@article {Vliesp1076, author = {Ben Vlies and Ahsen Nazir and Chris Walsh and Sanjeev Agarwal and Dilip Nazareth and Paul Stockton}, title = {The impact of education to healthcare professionals (HCPs) on smoking cessation in changing patient referral patterns}, volume = {38}, number = {Suppl 55}, elocation-id = {p1076}, year = {2011}, publisher = {European Respiratory Society}, abstract = {Background: NICE (UK) recommends that every smoker should be advised to quit and referred to a smoking cessation service (SCS) for support. In a previous survey [1], 74\% of patients had a missed opportunity for referral to SCS. The current survey evaluates the impact of a HCP education programme on referral patterns.Method: HCPs including doctors, nurses and pharmacists completed an anonymous, voluntary questionnaire in January 2011.Results: 58/65 HCPs completed the survey. 45\% were aware of local smoking cessation guidelines. 50\% had received information on smoking cessation in the last 12 months. 24\% did not wish to receive training. 95\% evaluated smoking cessation to be important, but only 79\% considered that a hospitalization was a useful opportunity to stop smoking. Education by SCS did not alter the reasons given for not referring patients for smoking cessation [Fig 1] of HCPs, although awareness of, and referral to, SCS was higher in the group of HCPs who received education (64\% vs 54\%). 12\% of respondents indicated that referring to SCS was not part of their role.Conclusion: Education of HCPs did not alter overall attitudes towards smoking cessation in this group, but did result in increased awareness and positively influenced referral rate to the SCS.References:1. ERJ 2010 Vol 35 Supp 54 p.1498.}, issn = {0903-1936}, URL = {https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p1076}, eprint = {https://erj.ersjournals.com/content}, journal = {European Respiratory Journal} }