SMOKING CESSATION - PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE-BASED UPON THE AHCPR GUIDELINE, 1996

Cigarette smoking remains the lending preventable cause of morbidity a nd premature mortality in the United States. Although the vast majorit y of smokers come in contact with the health care system on a regular basis, clinical smoking cessation interventions happen infrequently an d in a non-systematic manner In 1996, the Agency for Health Care Polic y and Research (AHCPR) ''Smoking Cessation Clinical Practice Guideline '' provided detailed clinical practice recommendations based on a revi ew of some 3,000 articles in the research literature and dozens of sup porting meta-analyses. This article presents a simple four-step model for clinical smoking cessation. interventions, including systematic id entification of smoking status, bi ief cessation advice from clinician s, assessment of patient motivation, and detailed assistance for those willing to stop smoking. It also provides the empirical basis for the AHCPR Guideline recommendations.