Intervention to smokers in psychiatry: can nurses make a difference? Pioneer education changes in the largest Czech psychiatric hospital
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| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| Citation | |
| Description | Objectives: Smoking prevalence is about double as high in psychiatric compared to general population. In the Czech Republic overall, about 25% smoke in the age 15+ group, while the prevalence amongst psychiatric patients is not described in detail. At present, no mandatory training of psychiatric healthcare staff is in place. Methods: In 2017, the largest Czech psychiatric hospital (423 nurses, 133 physicians) initiated education of the health care personnel about brief intervention to smokers. Since August 2017, electronic nursing assessment documentation includes mandatory questions on patient‘s smoking status and a type of intervention provided by the nurse. Results: Since August 2017, 17,5% of nurses (74/423), 25% of physicians (33/133) and 13 other employees (i.e. therapists, nutritional therapists, adictologists, social workers) were educated in the brief intervention in smokers. From 10,049 patients hospitalized between August 1, 2017, to December 31, 2018, smoking prevalence was noted in 42% at the first hospitalization, while in the re-hospitalized, it was 48%. Unfortunately, in 16% of the patients, the smoking status could not be determined. The number of identified smokers increased up to 59% in the last month of follow-up, when also 54% of them received at least the brief intervention. Conclusions: Systematic education of health care personnel together with an offer of tobacco dependence treatment as part of the standard psychiatric care has been challenging to implement. However, together with an international collaboration and pressure supported by existing new evidence, such efforts will gain important support. This in turn will contribute to successful tobacco cessation efforts in this population. |
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