Chronic Disease Management Includes Tobacco Cessation Counseling!

Audience: This presentation will be of interest to hospital healthcare professionals as it describes a unique tobacco cessation hospital program that integrates chronic disease management with tobacco cessation counseling. 

Key Points: Hospital admissions and management of chronic diseases associated with tobacco use costs the United States approximately $96 billion per year and another $97 billion in productivity loss due to premature deaths. Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) is one of those chronic diseases and is a leading cause of hospitalization and readmissions in the United States. While progress has been made in treatment, many patients lack self-care skills to manage the chronic symptoms associated with this disease, therefore, limiting the effectiveness of treatment. And, in spite of the consequences of tobacco use, health care providers often fail to recognize tobacco dependence as a chronic disease which leads to failure to treat it consistently and effectively. A nurse-directed educational intervention focusing on tobacco cessation counseling and self-care for patients with CHF was implemented at a small rural hospital in Northeast Florida.

Educational Experience: Through interactive discussion, the audience will learn how hospital-based initiatives to improve communication with patients and their other caregivers, coordination of care after discharge, and improvements in the quality of care during the initial admission can avert many readmissions.

Benefits: Consistent with a patient- centered approach, patient self-management education combined with tobacco cessation counseling has been validated as a successful strategy for reducing readmission rates.