Evaluating Effectiveness of an Inpatient Nurse-directed Smoking Cessation Program in a Small Community Hospital

The purpose of this study was to evaluate effectiveness of a nurse-directed smoking cessation intervention for hospitalized adult smokers using a quasi-experimental, prospective, longitudinal design. Pender’s revised health promotion model was the conceptual framework. Sixty-eight inpatients were assigned to either a control or an intervention group. The control group received smoking cessation literature. The intervention group received smoking cessation literature and a nursing intervention. The intervention group was randomized to a one or four telephone call subgroup for post discharge nurse follow-up. Fifty-five participants completed the study. Smokers receiving the nurse-directed intervention were more likely to be tobacco-abstinent at 3 months (n = 17, 55%) than smokers in the control group (n = 5, 21%). Tobacco abstinence between the one and four telephone call groups was not significant; however, additional telephone calls appeared to delay smoking relapse. Smoking relapse was higher for participants who lived with another smoker.