An evidence-based interactive computer program to assist physicians in counseling smokers to quit

Computerized expert systems offer the promise of increasing the frequency and efficiency of physician counseling of smokers to quit by collecting pertinent data and presenting it to physicians in a useful manner to guide and inform the counseling session. This article explores one such program that collects patient information, before the physician visit, that is pertinent to counseling smokers as described in the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research's Smoking Cessation Guidelines and supported in the medical literature. The program uses the information collected to produce two reports: one for the physician to use during the visit and the other for the patient as a means of supplementing and reinforcing the counseling message. Pilot data are presented from volunteers and primary care patients.