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Teachable moments: Helping parents quit smoking at the pediatrician's office

E-mail | Print | Comments () Posted by Elizabeth Cooney August 4, 2008 05:09 PM

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Smoking bans that protect people from secondhand smoke in public spaces or at work don't do much for the most vulnerable population: children at home or in the family car.

To encourage parents to quit, Massachusetts General Hospital wants
pediatricians to deliver an anti-smoking message to parents during a child's regular checkups.

Dr. Jonathan P. Winickoff and his colleagues in the Clinical Effort Against Secondhand Smoke Exposure, or CEASE, explain how they came up with the plan in the current Journal of Pediatrics. They tested the program among eight pediatric practices in the Boston area and presented it at national meetings.

It borrows from QuitWorks, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health program to help people stop smoking that includes telephone counseling and recommends medications to ease the withdrawal from tobacco.

The Mass. General group adapted the screening questionnaire and methods for charting the parent's smoking, attempts to quit, and prescriptions to help them succeed.

"This program is now available for everyone to use, and the science behind it is compelling," Winickoff said in a statement. "I hope that every child healthcare office in the country adopts the program so that every family can become tobacco-free."

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About white coat notes

White Coat Notes covers the latest from the health care industry, hospitals, doctors offices, labs, insurers, and the corridors of government. Chelsea Conaboy previously covered health care for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Write her at cconaboy@boston.com. Follow her on Twitter: @cconaboy.

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