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Healthcare providers should advise patients to quit using tobacco and should not hesitate to provide replacement nicotine (NEJM JW Emerg Med Jun 2002 and Chest 2002; 121:932). But how effective is the practice in the emergency department (ED) setting? Investigators randomized 778 adult ED patients who smoked to receive either a brochure with information about a quit line (phone resource) or the brochure plus a 6-week prescription for nicotine replacement plus a brief motivational interview and a follow-up phone call 3 days after the visit.
At 3 months, 4.9% of patients in the brochure-only group were abstinent (biochemically confirmed), compared with 12.2% in the intensive-intervention group. The absolute risk difference of 7.3% was statisti…