September 20, 2006 - Smoking Cessation

Patients at St. Francis Memorial Hospital who want to stop smoking will benefit from a new level of expertise this fall.

Specially trained staff will be providing support to help smokers kick the habit. Whenever a patient identifies themselves as a smoker, the team will go into action.

The staff members leading the program have received specialized training at the Ottawa Heart Institute, and others will have the opportunity to attend sessions with Heart Institute experts.

This new partnership makes SFMH one of the pilot sites to offer the Heart Institute program for patients. Eventually, it will expand to health care institutions throughout the Ottawa Valley and Eastern Ontario, forming the Champlain Hospital Smoking Cessation Network.

“We’re fortunate to be involved in the first wave of training,” says SFMH project coordinator, Joanne Plebon. Plebon has been trained at the Ottawa Heart Institute as a in-hospital smoking cessation specialist. She is now ready to work with patients, sharing information on various approaches to quit smoking and supplying them with self-help materials such as “the patch”, nicotine gum and inhalers.

Plebon notes that SFMH staff have been providing support to smokers for some time. Nicotine replacement therapies are regularly used for patients who cannot go outside to smoke, or who choose their hospitalization period as an opportunity to go smoke-free.

“We always try to make people as comfortable as possible when they are in the hospital,” Plebon says. “This takes it a step further by encouraging the patient to continue with the program once they return home.”

On Monday, September 18th, physicians and staff at SFMH were able to learn more about smoking cessation counseling techniques when Dr. Andrew Pipe and RN Bonnie Quinland traveled to Barry’s Bay from Ottawa to present and train nursing and allied health staff. Dr. Pipe is one of the Heart Institutes smoking cessation leaders and Bonne Quinland has been involved with the program since its beginning.

Once the program is introduced, the local efforts will extend beyond admitted patients. Information will be prominently displayed for hospital visitors and staff, and special initiatives will support any staff who express an interest in becoming former smokers.

“It’s a positive approach,” Plebon comments. “The decision is up to the participants, whether they’re patients or co-workers. Once they’ve made a decision to try and quit smoking, we’ll be there to support them.”