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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Mary Lober Aquilino, PhD, RN, FNP1, John B. Lowe, MPH, DrPH, FAHPA1, and Karen Farris, BS Pharm, PhD2. (1) Department of Community and Behavioral Health, The University of Iowa, 2821 Steindler Bldg, Iowa City, IA 52242, 319-335-6744, mary-aquilino@uiowa.edu, (2) Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy, The University of Iowa, S512 Pharmacy Bldg, Iowa City, IA 52242
While there are several models to assist physicians, nurses and other health care providers in implementing adult cessation activities, this is not the case for pharmacists. This presentation will describe an assessment of pharmacy capacity for providing cessation intervention, and the development of an adult smoking cessation model designed for use in pharmacies. Pharmacy capacity involves both the ability of institutions or agencies to support pharmacists in their smoking cessation intervention efforts, and the ability of individual pharmacists to provide education and counseling services to their patients who smoke. There are nearly 200,000 registered pharmacists in the US. Pharmacists are unique health care providers. They are easily accessible, have a large, diverse patient population, and generally offer education and counseling services without direct or additional cost to the individual. They have brief but often regular contacts with their patients. Because of the increased availability of nonprescription pharmacological smoking cessation aids, the pharmacist might be the only contact that a tobacco user has with a health care professional, prior to or during a quit attempt. Findings from a statewide survey of a random sample of pharmacists (n=363) will be discussed. The survey included questions about current pharmacy practices related to tobacco use, pharmacists’ perceived needs for, and interest in providing cessation counseling, and the general pharmacy environment. We will report on factors that inhibit and enhance the delivery of smoking cessation services by pharmacists. A possible model and further research will be described.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Tobacco Control, Pharmacies
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.