Smoke-Free in 2023: Help Your Patients Quit for Good
Tobacco use is the primary known preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, resulting in enormous, yet largely avoidable healthcare expenditures. Although nearly 70% of smokers would like to quit, and a variety of effective treatment options are available, most do not receive professional assistance and fewer than 5% who try to quit on their own are successful. The most effective method combines pharmacotherapy with counseling from a healthcare provider, yet few health professional degree programs adequately prepare their graduates for this role. The goal of the training is to keep the pharmacy profession up to date on prescriptive authority for tobacco cessation medications.