Healthcare professionals — doctors, nurses, mental health counselors — are frequently in the best position to offer advice on how to quit smoking. In fact, some 50 percent of smokers say they quit on the advice of their healthcare provider.
The New York State Department of Health’s Talk to Your Patients program aims to help healthcare providers become better equipped to help smokers quit.
Talk to Your Patients — talktoyourpatients.health.ny.gov — offers information on everything from the harmful effects of nicotine addiction and medications that can help people quit to counseling and resources. It also provides doctors and other healthcare professionals helpful messages:
- Half of patients who smoke will die from tobacco-related diseases.
- With Housing and Urban Development public housing going smoke free in 2018, more patients may ask for help in quitting.
- Doctors play a vital role in helping patients attain a tobacco-free life.
- Doctors can help patients quit smoking using proven and effective treatments for nicotine addiction, including medications and brief counseling.
- When doctors treat patients who smoke, long-term abstinence rates increase dramatically.
- Medicaid and other insurances provide coverage.
The NYSDOH also recommends that providers use the Ask, Advise, and Assist approach to helping their patients quit. Click the link below to learn more:
To learn about resources in the North Country that can help smokers quit, call the Heart Network at (518) 891-5855 or email djones@heartnetwork.org.
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