Crucial Tobacco Dependence Treatment Lacking in US Hospitals
Sarna L, Fiore MC, Schroeder SA. Tobacco Dependence Treatment Is Critical to Excellence in Health Care. JAMA Internal Medicine. 21 September 2020.
“In 2012, hospitals and clinicians were challenged to “do the right thing” by adopting a set of tobacco treatment measures developed by the Joint Commission.” However, “very few hospitals (approximately 138 [2.7%] in 2018 and 95 [1.9%] in 2019) had selected the tobacco treatment measures. Even in these hospitals, only 40.4% of patients in 2018 and 38.7% in 2019 met the Joint Commission requirement of receiving help with smoking cessation during hospitalization.”
“Although tobacco dependence treatments are effective, such interventions are still not the standard of hospital care, and disparities in treatment persist….” “Tobacco dependence treatment should be a required measure for any hospital seeking accreditation.”
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2770817?guestAccessKey=ea1481fd-7885-4e41-a397-7dc5f49f5291
Stephen Hamann
