BY NORM TOLLINSKY

Sudbury Regional Hospital will initiate an in-patient smoking cessation pilot program based on the so-called Ottawa model later this summer, said Dr. Amanda Hey, clinical lead for preventive oncology and screening for the Sudbury Regional Cancer Program

Patients who are smokers on the fourth floor neurology and thoracic surgery unit at the hospital’s Memorial site will be counselled, offered smoking cessation therapy and followed up using an interactive voice response system after they are discharged.

The Ottawa model in-patient smoking cessation program has been introduced at every hospital in the Champlain LHIN and some 60 hospitals across the country are looking at it, said Hey.

An automated voice response system will call patients on the fourth, seventh, 14th and 30th day following discharge, then once a month for another five months. Studies evaluating the success of the Ottawa model have demonstrated a significant increase in the number of patients who kick the habit. At the six-month point, up to 50 per cent of patients report being smoke-free.

“There are so many things going on in a hospital that we tend to overlook smoking,” said Hey. “We don’t ask consistently and we don’t advise. We decided to take this seriously.

It’s one of the most powerful interventions you can offer in terms of its impact on a number of chronic diseases.”

Patients agreeing to participate in a smoking cessation program will be prescribed nicotine replacement therapy or Zyban.

Additional help for smokers interested in quitting is available from a number of sources:

• The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Smoking Treatment for Ontario Patients study, more commonly known as the STOP study, is helping Ontarians quit smoking by examining five different ways to distribute nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) in conjunction with cessation counselling. Smokers can call 1-800-350-5305. Pharmacists, public health units, aboriginal health access centres and community health centres also have information about the CAMH program.

• Smokers can also call the Canadian Cancer Society’s Smoker’s Helpline at 1-877- 513-5333. Online assistance is also available at www.smokershelpline.ca.

• Physicians looking for help in delivering smoking cessation intervention programs for their patients can take advantage of the Ontario Medical Association’s Clinical Tobacco Intervention program. The education events and materials supplied by CTI help health-care professionals implement tobacco intervention into their practice, identify a patient's readiness to quit, outline treatment options, and offer resources for patients and providers.

• Public health units also offer tobacco cessation counselling.