SMART PHONE - THE TOBACCO SCREENER

Smart phones and tablets may hold the key to screen patients for tobacco use and advise smokers on how to quit. Using mobile phones loaded with tobacco screening guidelines prompted nurses to ask patients about their smoking habits in 84 percent of clinic visits and to offer cessation counseling to 99 percent of smokers expressed a willingness to kick the habit.

IN PRACTICE:

Even though tobacco use is the leading cause of death in the U.S., clinicians don’t ask about smoking during patient exams instead mobile phones are loaded with tobacco screening guidelines.

 These findings suggest that mobile applications can play a significant role in curbing tobacco use. U.S. Smokers are advised on how to quit less than 20 percent of the time and are screened for tobacco use in about 60 percent of office visits, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

PERFECT APPLICATION:

 These findings are a win in the ongoing battle against tobacco use, and they also point to a broader benefit of mobile applications in getting more clinicians to follow evidence-based practice guidelines.

SCREENING:

Step 1: The study evaluated tobacco screening rates for more than 14,000 visits at clinics in New York City.

Step 2: Clinic patients were treated by 185 registered nurses enrolled in advanced practice degree programs at Columbia Nursing.

Step 3: Overall screening and counseling rates were increased by use of the mobile tools.

          The technology can serve to remove any unintended bias and clinicians might have understand about which patients are most likely to benefit from intervention.

GOAL ATTAINED:

 The study included only patients seen by nurses who had access to mobile health tools, the screening and counseling rates in the study are much higher than the baseline rates tracked by the CDC.

The mobile tools also helped clinicians exceed the targets for screening and counseling established by Healthy People 2020, a national road map for improving health and eliminating health disparities.

Tobacco-related objectives in Healthy People 2020 include

·        Counseling rates of about 21 percent

·        Screening rates of about 69 percent during office visits.