PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Scott M. Strayer
AU  - Steven W. Heim
AU  - Lisa K. Rollins
AU  - Marit L. Bovbjerg
AU  - Mohan Nadkarni
AU  - David B. Waters
AU  - Fern R. Hauck
AU  - John B. Schorling
TI  - Improving Smoking Cessation Counseling Using a Point-of-Care Health Intervention Tool (IT): From the Virginia Practice Support and Research Network (VaPSRN)
AID  - 10.3122/jabfm.2013.02.110078
DP  - 2013 Mar 01
TA  - The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Medicine
PG  - 116--125
VI  - 26
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/26/2/116.short
4100  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/26/2/116.full
SO  - J Am Board Fam Med2013 Mar 01; 26
AB  - Purpose: Primary care practices are an ideal setting for reducing national smoking rates because >70% of smokers visit their physician annually, yet smoking cessation counseling is inconsistently delivered to patients. We designed and created a novel software program for handheld computers and hypothesized that it would improve clinicians' ability to provide patient-tailored smoking cessation counseling at the point of care. Methods: A handheld computer software program was created based on smoking cessation guidelines and an adaptation of widely accepted behavioral change theories. The tool was evaluated using a validated before/after survey to measure physician smoking cessation counseling behaviors, knowledge, and comfort/self-efficacy. Results: Participants included 17 physicians (mean age, 41 years; 71% male; 5 resident physicians) from a practice-based research network. After 4 months of use in direct patient care, physicians were more likely to advise patients to stop smoking (P = .049) and reported an increase in use of the “5 As” (P = .03). Improved self-efficacy in counseling patients regarding smoking cessation (P = .006) was seen, as was increased comfort in providing follow-up to patients (P = .04). Conclusions: Use of a handheld computer software tool improved smoking cessation counseling among physicians and shows promise for translating evidence about smoking cessation counseling into practice and educational settings.