Pharmacy Student-Led Evaluation of Patient Willingness for Smoking Cessation Utilizing Various Smoking Cessation Methods

Purpose: The ever-growing variety of methods available for smoking cessation have the potential to lead to confusion influencing a patient’s willingness to quit smoking. The aim of this study is to investigate if a change in patient motivation and product preference has occurred after receiving education on the various smoking cessation products Methods : An informative poster was created to highlight different smoking cessation methods .A questionnaire was developed to assess patient motivation to quit utilizing the ‘Readiness to Quit Ladder’ and patient experiences with or preference between various smoking cessation methods.1The poster was displayed in various pharmacy settings, including community pharmacies, ambulatory care clinics, and smoking cessation group visits. Motivation to quit was assessed prior to and following a brief educational discussion and presentation of the poster. Results and Discussion: Education on various methods of smoking cessation products did not significantly improve motivation to quit, likely due to the fact that patients included in the study presented high motivation at baseline. The majority of patients had made previous attempts to quit smoking in the past, and the nicotine replacement patch was used more often than other smoking cessation methods. Following education a greater number of patients were likely to use prescription smoking cessation methods. Patients were reluctant to discuss their smoking habits and previous attempts quitting. There was limited participation in the survey in the community pharmacy setting. This may be due to unease or aversion to discuss the topic in a public space or due to people’s limited experiences in having clinical conversations in a community pharmacy setting