Nurses making a difference in tobacco dependence treatment in Portugal

Despite the existence of effective ways to help patients quit smoking, nurses are usually ill prepared to address it as it was not a priority in nursing training. Nevertheless, if properly trained, the over 66,000 nurses in Portugal would make a significant difference in the tobacco epidemic. Experience from several countries has demonstrated the efficacy of combination of Training-of-Trainers. This project aims at filling the nurses’ tobacco educational gap and build capacity among Portuguese nurses for evidence-based cessation interventions in clinical practice, increasing by 40%, the number of nurses self-reporting “always/usually” when assessing the patients tobacco use 3 months post educational intervention. Using a descriptive, pre-post design, this project implemented education workshops on tobacco dependence treatment for Portuguese nurses. The project started in October 2017. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM® SPSS® Statistics and a confidence level of 95%. Initial-final response comparisons were done with the Wilcoxon test. Fifty six nurses were enrolled in the study, mainly oncology nurses (31%) and specialists (64%). After the program, we observed an increase in the number of nurses that: 1)advise patients to stop smoking (p=0,01); 2)assess whether patients are interested in quitting smoking (p=0,02); 3)recommend using a telephone line for smoking cessation (p=0,02); 4)analyse the barriers to cessation with patients who are not interested in trying to cease (p=0,02); and 5)inform patients and their families about the importance of creating a smoke-free home environment after hospital discharge (p=0,006) In conclusion the program was effective in changing nurses attitudes towards their role in tobacco control. Although short- and medium-term beneficiaries of the project are nurses, the ultimate beneficiaries are smokers supported in their tobacco cessation efforts. Funding statement: Project was financed by Global Bridges and Pfizer Independent Grants for Learning & Change.