Nurses making a difference in tobacco dependence treatment in Portugal

Abstract

Despite the existence of effective ways to help patients quit smoking, nurses are usually ill prepared to address it as it was not a priority in nursing training. Nevertheless, if properly trained, the over 66,000 nurses in Portugal would make a significant difference in the tobacco epidemic. Experience from several countries has demonstrated the efficacy of combination of Training-of-Trainers. This project aims at filling the nurses’ tobacco educational gap and build capacity among Portuguese nurses for evidence-based cessation interventions in clinical practice, increasing by 40%, the number of nurses self-reporting “always/usually” when assessing the patients tobacco use 3 months post educational intervention. Using a descriptive, pre-post design, this project implemented education workshops on tobacco dependence treatment for Portuguese nurses. The project started in October 2017. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM® SPSS® Statistics and a confidence level of 95%. Initial-final response comparisons were done with the Wilcoxon test. Fifty six nurses were enrolled in the study, mainly oncology nurses (31%) and specialists (64%). After the program, we observed an increase in the number of nurses that: 1)advise patients to stop smoking (p=0,01); 2)assess whether patients are interested in quitting smoking (p=0,02); 3)recommend using a telephone line for smoking cessation (p=0,02); 4)analyse the barriers to cessation with patients who are not interested in trying to cease (p=0,02); and 5)inform patients and their families about the importance of creating a smoke-free home environment after hospital discharge (p=0,006) In conclusion the program was effective in changing nurses attitudes towards their role in tobacco control. Although short- and medium-term beneficiaries of the project are nurses, the ultimate beneficiaries are smokers supported in their tobacco cessation efforts. Funding statement: Project was financed by Global Bridges and Pfizer Independent Grants for Learning & Change.