Continuing to smoke after a cancer diagnosis can affect treatment and health outcomes, but not every patient receives support to stop smoking. This paper describes how a US cancer centre expanded an existing tobacco treatment programme across the organisation.
The programme introduced standard electronic medical-record procedures, a tobacco registry, more certified tobacco-treatment specialists and a multidisciplinary team. The number of patients receiving cessation services increased about ten-fold, and the programme reported a 31% seven-day point-prevalence cessation rate among evaluated patients.