Research

Is life better after quitting smoking?
A study that assessed smokers’ beliefs about life before and after quitting smoking reported encouraging results for those hoping to quit smoking. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine recorded withdrawal symptoms in 572 smokers a week before, a week after, and a week after one year since quitting smoking. The successful quitters reported a decrease in “stressful event frequency,” a steep decline in cravings, and declines in restlessness and anger. Fear of the after effects of quitting smoking can often deter smokers from attempting to quit, and this type of study may aid in alleviating these fears. View the abstract in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine by clicking here.

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Reports

Public comment opportunity: Meaningful Use Stage 3 draft recommendations
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) Health Information Technology Policy Committee (HITPC) has begun to develop Meaningful Use stage 3 recommendations. The Request for Comment (RFC) includes the following sections: Meaningful Use Objectives and Measures, Quality Measures, and Privacy and Security. All commenters are encouraged to provide opinions regarding feasibility, and more importantly, experiences with how something has been done in order to promote advancement, while also ensuring it is achievable. Instructions for submitting comments can be found in the Federal Register. Click here to submit a comment via regulations.gov. The deadline for comment submissions is January 14, 2013. Related: Learn more about Meaningful Use Federal law provides incentives to certain types of healthcare providers and hospitals for adopting electronic health record (EHR) technology and using it a meaningful way to capture and track health data, such as smoking status and tobacco cessation counseling. Click here for a quick introduction to Meaningful Use, or click here for examples from the field of how Meaningful Use is being implemented, FAQs, and links to other resources.

Quitline Service Offering Models: A Review of the Evidence and Recommendations for Practice in Times of Limited Resources
The North American Quitline Consortium recently published an issue paper which provides a summary of the scientific evidence on delivering smoking cessation services through quitlines in a cost-efficient manner. An executive summary is now available as a quick reference for quitline decision makers on the options for quitline service delivery based on funding availability. Additionally, a 2-page table of service delivery, which distills the recommendations into an even shorter format, is also available.

Tobacco cessation and behavioral health course
The University of California, San Diego School of Medicine is offering a new free course that will provide mental health and substance use disorder providers and counselors with the knowledge, skills and confidence necessary to assess and treat tobacco dependence in smokers with co-occurring psychiatric and/or addictive disorders. This is a 2-hour online course presented through an audio presentation with synchronized slides. Participants may view the entire course at once, or stop and return later. Medical professionals can earn continuing education credits for this course. Click here for more details.

QuitPal: An innovative app to quit smoking
The National Cancer Institute has developed a new app called “QuitPal” that provides smokers easy access to free tools and resources to aid them in their quit-smoking efforts. This free app is available on cell phones and has research-based strategies such as a calendar where goals can be tracked, a log to track daily smoking habits, tips to keep users motivated, and a video diary. Click here to read more. Click here to download the app from the Apple App Store.

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