Developing Competency-Based Nursing Treatment for Persons With Tobacco Use Disorder

Tobacco continues to have a deleterious impact on health outcomes in the United States. Professional nurses at all levels of practice have an opportunity to be a part of the solution. The development of nurse-specific competencies for treating tobacco use disorder (TUD) disorder is long overdue. A task force of American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) subject matter experts was assembled to engage in the process of reviewing the available peer-reviewed literature and additional evidence-based resources (e.g., professional organization position statement, toolkits, national survey results) to create the Nursing Competencies for Treating Tobacco Use Disorders.

The aim of this article is ultimately to improve patient access to quality, evidence-based TUD nursing care by all nurses who are competent, full partners in TUD multidisciplinary care.

Search terms were defined and a scoping search and review of the TUD literature and resources was performed from November 2018 to November 2020.

Over 300 articles and evidence-based resources (e.g., professional organization position statements, toolkits, etc.) were discovered. Thirteen competencies were developed and were internally and externally reviewed prior to APNA Board of Director's approval.

TUD competencies have the potential to guide nursing education, practice, and research, allowing nurses to be full partners in the design, development, and implementation of effective TUD treatment.