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Issues addressed: Nicotine replacement therapies are effective, but are mostly under-utilised and often not used for an appropriate duration. The paper reports on a pilot project that used subsidies for NRT as a means to engage community pharmacists to deliver tobacco cessation to the Arabic-speaking community. Method: Arabic-speaking community pharmacists were recruited through direct mail-outs and trained in tobacco cessation brief intervention. Fifteen selected pharmacies recruited Arabic smokers through their pharmacies. Pharmacy follow up was conducted three months after the program was implemented. Results: A total of 65 participants attended the seminar. A total of 31 pharmacy customers received at least one packet of subsidised NRT patches. Twenty (64.5%) clients received both the first and second subsidised pack. Fifteen clients continued to use patches after the third packet, however only three clients continued the patches to the eighth pack. Conclusion: The pilot was successful in improving recruitment of pharmacies into training for smoking cessation counselling as well as engaging community pharmacists to deliver tobacco cessation intervention with small incentive. (author abstract)

Issues addressed: To implement and evaluate an intervention designed to increase knowledge of the harms of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) upon young children and support the implementation of harm reduction strategies among parents/carers of young children to reduce the children's exposure to ETS in a local government area of inner Sydney. Method: An intervention was developed (based on themes derived from focus groups and the literature) and implemented over four months from February to May 1999. Pre, post and six month follow up intercept surveys were conducted with parents of children younger than seven years in the intervention area and a comparison area. Results: There were significant increases in prompted and unprompted recall of the intervention message in the intervention area, with prompted recall being sustained at six month follow up. Knowledge of ineffective strategies to protect children from ETS also significantly increased with a significant association between increased knowledge and recall of the intervention message. There was a non-statistically significant increase in the proportion of smoke-free homes from 67% to 75%. Conclusion: Although the intervention was well implemented, more substantial and longer intervention is needed to increase the proportion of smoke-free homes. (author abstract)

Objective. To evaluate the compliance of hospital staff, inpatients and visitors with Sydney South West Area Health Service’s Smoke-free Environment Policy. Methods. Six sites were observed at two Sydney hospitals 2 weeks before implementation of the policy and at 2 weeks, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months and 2 years after implementation. Results. There was an overall significant 36% (P ≤ 0.05) reduction in observed smoking incidents on hospital grounds 2 years after implementation. Two years after implementation, observed smoking incidents reduced by 44% (P ≤ 0.05) in staff, 37% (P ≤ 0.05) in visitors and remained unchanged among inpatients. Conclusions and implications. The Smoke-free Environment Policy was effective in reducing visitors and staff observed smoking on hospital grounds, but had little effect on inpatients’ smoking. Identifying strategies to effectively manage nicotine addiction and promote cessation amongst hospital inpatients remains a key priority. What is known about the topic? Smoke-free environment policies have been developed and introduced worldwide. These policies reduce tobacco use and protect the community from environmental tobacco smoke. What does this paper add? This paper focusses on a method used to monitor compliance of a smoke-free environment policy in a healthcare setting. The paper tracks what happened over 2 years before and after the policy was implemented. Among staff, there was evidence of compliance with the policy; however, there was no apparent change in policy compliance amongst inpatients. What are the implications for practitioners? Policy makers and staff implementing smoke-free policies should ensure adequate support for staff and inpatients are available, with continued promotion and enforcement of the policy. Further investigations are needed into multi-strategic cessation interventions for inpatients who smoke.