2007 Helping Smokers Quit (HSQ)
Welcome to Helping Smokers Quit!
This study was the first to demonstrate that a nurse-tailored, Web-based intervention to increase nurses’ performance in tobacco dependence treatment was effective, particularly in significantly increasing nurses’ referral to the telephone quitline (Quitline) for smoking cessation. Nurses, the largest group of healthcare professionals, have the potential for an important impact on public health by expanding the number of healthcare professionals who can intervene with hospitalized smokers.
Nurses can play a pivotal role in addressing the primary cause of death and disease in the United States: tobacco use. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death and illness in the US, causing over 400,000 deaths every year and costing trillions of dollars in healthcare costs and loss of life. Nurses are part of a national effort to improve quality of care and the health of their patients by learning more about how to help smokers quit.
We invited nurses from 30 hospitals, 10 each in California, Indiana and West Virginia, to participate in this project and to receive free training and resources in tobacco cessation. Choose a state below to see the each special site!
The Helping Smokers Quit (HSQ) project was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The HSQ is an innovative distance-learning program to assist nurses to help their patients stop smoking based upon the U.S. Public Health Service’s Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence, Clinical Practice Guideline (Guideline) . Despite its availability, the Guideline is underutilized by healthcare professionals. As the largest group of healthcare providers, effectively trained nurses can be invaluable in helping patients stop smoking. Additionally, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations rates hospitals based upon their performance in smoking cessation interventions for patients with heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia.
An important component of the HSQ project was to provide resources and information through the Web. The project was based at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Nursing.
Please meet the team who coordinated the HSQ Project:
- Linda Sarna, RN, DNSc, FAAN, Principal Investigator
- Michael Ong, MD. Co-Investigator
- Patricia Parkerton, MPH, PhD, Co-Investigator
- Marjorie Wells, RN, PhD, FNP, Project Director
- Ms. Lisa Wei Chang, MPH, Project Assistant
- Ms. Jenny Kotlerman, MS, Principal Statistician
- Stella Aguinaga Bialous, RN, MScN, DrPH, FAAN, Consultant
