Strategies to Achieve Electronic and Paper Fax Referral Systems

Audience: Tobacco Coalition Coordinators, Cessation Clinic Coordinators, physicians, nurses, clinical managers, senior-level management and administration, family medical practices working to incorporate brief tobacco counseling into patient care. Key Points: This strategy is the second phase of implementing tobacco use treatment in the hospital setting. Healthcare systems must adapt by implementing the fax referral system for tobacco use treatment. This approach is designed to engage hospital staff and outpatient facilities in the fax referral process to counsel tobacco users. This strategy motivates providers until electronic support is incorporated into their EHR and reinforces the Ask-Advise-Refer model outlined by the Joint Commission. Fax referral system training help support the Quitline for tobacco treatment. This process also assures all patients receive assistance and support for tobacco use treatment. Educational Experience: The presentation will include strategies to implement a fax referral system within the health care system creating momentum with the paper system while work is executed to create an electronic version, how best to incorporate the strategy into the work of the nurse managers using the “train the trainer” approach and offer provider-friendly templates to easily adapt this program into any setting, success, and challenges. Benefits: Changes in healthcare staffing affect cessation systems across the board. Through education (train-the-trainer), individual confidence is created to counsel patients, without adding more work. This is a way to incorporate cessation systems change by using existing resources until fax referral is embedded into Electronic Health Records.