Aspects of physician-patient communication in the program of smoking cessation

The doctor-smoker patient communication is essential for smokers to realize the harmful effects of tobacco on health and the benefits of smoking cessation. Nicotine found in cigarettes is a powerful drug and a direct dependency generator, which makes smoking cessation difficult, the withdrawal syndrome being hard to overcome for many smokers. The doctor-smoker patient communication is a complex process of data, information and knowledge transmission, subjected to some semiotic rules. In the Counseling Center for Smoking Cessation (CCSC) from the Rehabilitation Clinical Hospital of Iasi the medical and psychological counseling and the pharmacologic therapy for smoking cessation is ensured by the qualified personnel. CCSC was founded in 2005, when the hospital was included in European Program: "European Network Smoke-Free Hospital", and experienced an important development in 2007 with the initiation "Stop Smoking" National Program of Ministry of Health. The doctor-smoker patient communication in the CCSC was conducted during the smoker's recruitment, therapeutic and post therapeutic period, a special place being occupied by the doctor-medical staff communication, including smoker medical students. The number of people who became nonsmokers after being counseled at our center was the evidence of the effectiveness of this communication. The obtained results determined us to join the global fight against smoking and to propose the introduction of the smoking cessation program in the curriculum of the medical education institutions.