Helping your patients who smoke quit for good. A quick and easy approach

Cigarette smoking is the single most important behavior contributing to illness, disability, and death in the United States. However, by using appropriate techniques, physicians can help patients quit smoking, even when office visits are limited. Physicians who adopt the "differential diagnosis approach" (which categorizes smokers into stages of smoking cessation and offers specific counseling techniques) have increased confidence in their ability to help their patients. They thus can have a significant impact on the large percentage of smokers who visit physicians' offices each year.