KDHE
TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) is now offering a free online training for health care providers on ways to help their patients quit tobacco.
The course, which can be found on www.kstobaccointervention.org, follows best practice guidelines for health care providers to help patients quit tobacco and can be used by a wide range of health care providers, including doctors, nurses, front office staff, dentists and dental hygienists. This training has been approved for continuing education credit from the American Academy of Family Physicians, Kansas Dental Board and the Kansas Board of Healing Arts for doctors of medicine, surgery, osteopathic medicine, chiropractic medicine, naturopathic medicine, physician assistants, dentists and dental hygienists.
According to the most recent Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: Clinical Practice Guideline, which provides recommendations and best practices for tobacco treatment, clinicians should consistently identify and document tobacco use and treat every tobacco user seen in a health care setting. During a brief intervention for patients who smoke medical providers:
- Ask (systematically identify all tobacco users at every visit)
- Advise (strongly urge all tobacco users to quit)
- Refer (refer patients to quitlines or other cessation programs and resources)
The training will teach providers to describe U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medications to help patients quit tobacco, describe the benefits of the Kansas Tobacco Quitline and describe other resources available to patients and other providers. The interactive training takes approximately 45 minutes and includes links to recognized tobacco treatment guidelines, cessation medication information, fact sheets and other resources.
KDHE’s Tobacco Use Prevention Program manages the Kansas Tobacco Quitline (1-800-QUIT-NOW) and provides resources and technical assistance to community coalitions for development, enhancement and evaluation of state and local tobacco prevention initiatives. For additional information on the Kansas Tobacco Use Prevention Program visit www.kdheks.gov/tobacco.