City patients kick the habit
Health service celebrates no tobacco day
A DEDICATED team at Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service is helping increase the numbers of smoking patients getting support to kick the habit.
In April last year, dual diagnosis coordinator and tobacco treatment specialist Jenny Minchell and her team introduced a smoking cessation pathway for patients.
“Today is World No Tobacco Day and we will be celebrating the success of a number of initiatives that are helping our patients to make healthy choices and quit smoking,” she said.
“Since April 2016, 100 per cent of smokers have been identified and more than 80 per cent have received an intervention offering them assistance and support to quit, as well as products to reduce withdrawal symptoms while in hospital.”
Closing The Gap consultant pharmacist and tobacco treatment specialist Johanna Bou-Samra has worked closely with Ms Minchell to promote the benefits of quitting smoking.
A key focus this year has been reducing smoking rates in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
“For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients we offer visits to do initial assessments and I’m working really closely with the Quitline so the patients can have their first assessment with me and then a follow-up over the phone so we get better engagement right from the start and a better success rate,” she said.
“Quitline recently introduced a program called ‘Quit for you, Quit for baby’ and the idea is to reduce maternal smoking rates and what they’re doing is offering free nicotine replacement therapy to both the mum and the partner, to encourage a whole-of-household approach which is very important.”
Ms Minchell and Ms Bou-Samra will present at the Clinical Excellence Showcase in Brisbane today, providing information on how smoking management interventions have been introduced across the service.