2017 Volume 12 Issue 4 Pages 73-81
Aim: To identify nurses’ role and practice in smoking cessation therapy (SCT) in Japan.
Methods: We distributed a self-administered questionnaire to the nurses or physicians of 750 clinics and 350 hospitals using a random sampling technique. Questionnaire items included nurses’ role in SCT, time of nurses’ counseling and whether the nurses who were engaged in SCT at the institutions received education on smoking cessation intervention.
Results: The response rate was 25.9%. SCT included nurses’ counseling in 64% of the medical institutions. Among these institutions, 64% of the institutions provided individualized nurses’ counseling for patients’ problems that occurred after the cessation. Only 57% of institutions answered that the nurses had received skilled training for smoking cessation intervention. The institutions in which the nurses received skilled training for smoking cessation intervention showed significantly higher success rate (odds ratio: 2.33, p = 0.017) than institutions in which nurses did not receive such skilled training.
Discussion: It is necessary to establish standardized guidelines for nurses’ counseling in SCT and to use effective materials such as a leaflet to be given to patients for smoking cessation intervention.
