A Process Improvement Project to Increase Smoking Cessation Support Among Smoking Patients in an Outpatient Oncology Clinic

Abstract

The standard of practice among oncology patients who are current smokers is to assess their willingness to quit and offer cessation support for those interested tobacco cessation. The purpose of this DNP project was to improve tobacco assessment and cessation support offered to oncology patients who are current smokers in an outpatient oncology practice. A process change using the 5As of tobacco cessation tool was implemented to standardize tobacco use screening and cessation intervention. An electronic referral to the state quitline was incorporated as a cessation intervention approach. The goal of this project was to improve patient assessment of willingness to quit and to increase quitline referrals for those expressing readiness. The Health Promotion Model served as the project’s theoretical basis. A chart review was performed pre- and post-implementation to find a 66% increase in staff assessment of patient willingness to quit. Among patients expressing readiness, 32% were referred to the state quitline for cessation support. Standardizing tobacco screening with the 5As of tobacco cessation tool and incorporating an electronic quitline referral increased the number of patients assessed for willingness to quit and offered cessation counseling.