It’s Not That Simple: Tobacco Use Identification and Documentation in Acute Care

Patricia M. Smith, Nancy Cobb and Linda Corso
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Patricia M. Smith: Division of Human Sciences, Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road, MS2008, Thunder Bay, ON P7B 5E1, Canada
Nancy Cobb: InfoFinders, 321 Hamstead Court, Waterloo, ON N2K 2B8, Canada
Linda Corso: InfoFinders, 321 Hamstead Court, Waterloo, ON N2K 2B8, Canada

IJERPH, 2013, vol. 10, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: This environmental telephone interview scan was designed to identify: (1) how hospitals in one Canadian province incorporated tobacco use identification/documentation systems into practice; and, (2) challenges/issues with tobacco identification/documentation. Participants included 36/139 hospitals previously identified to offer cessation services. Results showed hospitals aided by researchers monitored and tracked tobacco use; those not aligned with researchers did not. The wording of tobacco items most commonly included use within the last 6-months (42%), 30-days (39%), or 7-days (33%), or use without reference to time (e.g., “Do you smoke?”; 39%); wording sometimes depended on admitting form space limitations. The admission process determined where the tobacco item appeared, which differed by hospital—75% included it on an admitting form (75%) and/or nursing assessment (56%); the item sometimes varied by unit. There were also different processes by which the item triggered delivery of cessation interventions; most frequently (69%), staff nurses were triggered to provide an intervention. The findings suggest that adding a tobacco use question to a hospital’s admitting process is potentially not that simple. Deciding on the purpose of the question, when it will be asked and by whom, space allotted on the form, and how it will trigger an intervention are important considerations that can affect the question wording, form/location, systems required, data extraction, and resources.

Keywords: tobacco use and dependence guideline; tobacco use identification; tobacco use documentation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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