Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this project was to increase provider compliance with smoking cessation counseling using the 5A’s of smoking cessation: Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, and Arrange.|Background: The need for smoking cessation assessment and intervention is vital in primary care. The number of people who smoke cigarettes is nearly 40 million U.S. adults. Research shows that 7 out of 10 American adults who currently smoke wish to quit but are unable to due to lack of knowledge, resources, and support. With the various national initiatives focused on ending the tobacco use crisis, it is the responsibility of the primary care provider to start the conversation related to tobacco use, prevention, and cessation.|Sample/Setting: Participants for this project were individuals 19 years and older, English speaking, currently smoking and utilized services of a free medical clinic.|Methods: First, provider education on the 5A’s of smoking cessation was completed. Through the intervention phase of the project a questionnaire and barriers assessment was included with each patient visit. The questionnaire assessed whether or not the patient smoked and if so, was provided the 5As of smoking cessation counseling. If smoking cessation was not done, the providers completed a barriers assessment.|Results: Forty out of eighty patients seen in the clinic during implementation were smokers and qualified for the project but only 21 out of 40 were provided smoking cessation counseling. The providers reported barriers to smoking cessation counseling including: limited time (23%), language barrier (14%), wasn’t a priority (28%), and other (19%).|Conclusion: Although the number of participants was small, the overall goal of improving provider compliance on smoking cessation counseling was achieved. Prior to the implementation of the 5A’s of smoking cessation there was no formal process to address smoking cessation at the clinic. This project proved that it is possible to incorporate a formal smoking cessation counseling process in every patient encounter in order to improve patient outcomes.|Keywords: smoking cessation, smoking counseling, 5A’s, low-income, underserved, provider perceptions, barriers.