Pharmacists' role in a smoking-cessation program at a managed health care organization

A smoking-cessation program at a managed health care organization and the involvement of pharmacists are described. Kaiser Permanente Northwest Region is a prepaid group-practice managed health care organization serving more than 380,000 members in Oregon and southwest Washington. A multidepartmental team at Northwest Region designed and implemented a stepped-care approach to smoking cessation in March 1992. The program progresses from advising and helping patients to quit on their own to enrolling patients in a behavioral-modification course to referring them to nicotine-replacement therapy to be given concurrently with the behavioral modification. The program was established with the help of pharmacists, and pharmacists are deeply involved in its operation. They work closely with each patient, the health educator instructing the patient, and the prescribing physician. Pharmacists attend 5 of the 10 behavioral modification/nicotine-replacement course sessions and take responsibility for enrollees throughout the program. Pharmacists prescribe and monitor nicotine-replacement therapy by protocol. They also monitor each patient for the dose-response effect, adverse drug reactions, drug interactions, concurrent medical conditions, and progress and outcome. The physician is informed about any important changes in the patient's status. In 1992, more than 80 courses were held with nearly 1000 participants, and rates of long-term abstinence achieved compare favorably with literature rates for community-based group smoking-cessation programs. Satisfaction of patients, pharmacists, and physicians with the program has been high. Pharmacists at a managed health care organization participate in a smoking-cessation program by helping with behavioral modification, educating patients about nicotine-replacement therapy, and prescribing and monitoring therapy by protocol.