The Five A's of Smoking Counseling
What every physician must remember to do:
- Ask whether the patient smokes.
- Advise them to stop.
- Assess their readiness to quit.
- Assist them in quitting.
- Arrange follow-up care.
| Brief advice to quit smoking from a clinician increases cessation rates by 30%. |
| The goal is to educate about the importance of quitting smoking. You needn't provide all of the elements of this counseling; that can be done by referral to a cessation program. Just get the process started. |
Of all the evidence-based guidelines in preventive healthcare, this is perhaps the most important.
Refs.:
Five
Major Steps to Intervention (The "5A's")
Surgeon General
Clinical Practice Guideline:
Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence
Fiore MC, Bailey WC, Cohen SJ, et al.;
Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Public
Health Service; 2000.
Management of Nicotine Addiction, Fact Sheet
US Department of Health and Human Services.
Reducing Tobacco Use: A Report of the Surgeon General.
Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion,
Office on Smoking and Health; 2000.
Policy recommendations for smoking cessation
and treatment of tobacco dependence
World Health Organization.
Geneva, Switzerland; 2003.