Help for Smokers trying to quit after leaving Hospital

Hospitals are smoke free zones. When smokers are admitted to the hospital for any reason they must leave their cigarettes behind, which can be a good opportunity to try to quit. A new study examined whether offering hospitalized smokers medication and counseling would help them remain smoke free when they return home. “We know that medication works and that counseling works but they both together work much better than either one alone.” Dr. Nancy Rigotti and co-authors divided 397 hospitalized smokers into two groups. One group just received recommendations about how to quit. The other group was provided various medications and in-hospital counseling. Once patients left the hospital they received automated phone calls checking their progress along with access to additional counseling for three months. “We were able to increase the quit rates six months after discharge by over 70 percent by providing this simple system of care.” The study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.