Goals

• To increase reach of TCI program within all 10 state hospitals
  • Measure: Proportion of eligible smokers in a given facility participating in the TCI program (defined as receiving NRT, counseling and/or buproprion)
• To increase provider awareness of the program
  • Measure: Increase in number of patients referred by healthcare providers at each facility
• To increase the motivation of patients identified as tobacco users to make a quit attempt
  • Measure: Number of self-referrals to the program

.......Tobacco has distinguished itself as the agent most responsible for avoidable illness and death. More than 440,000 deaths are attributed to tobacco use each year, with about 7,000 occurring in the state of Louisiana. Current treatments for tobacco use and dependence offer clinicians and healthcare delivery systems an incomparable opportunity to reduce loss of life and to improve the current and future health of patients.

.......The Tobacco Control Initiative (TCI) is administered by the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, School of Public Health in partnership with the Health Care Services Division and the Louisiana Health Sciences Center in Shreveport. This initiative provides standardized smoking cessation services to patients and employees of all HCSD hospitals.

.......The program follows the evidence-based guidelines of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, “Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence” (2000) and incorporates assessment, behavioral counseling, pharmacotherapy and other recommended systems interventions needed to support a tobacco cessation initiative.

.......The program is data intensive and uses the Tobacco Registry to calculate tobacco use rates by hospital, age and ethnicity. The Registry can also be linked to other data sets to determine tobacco use patterns by disease category, zip code, length of stay, and other variables of significance to the division’s commitment to continuous quality improvement.

.......Funding for TCI is supported by Louisiana cigarette taxes through the Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living.