Launch of new smoking cessation online course for health professionals
Brief interventions in smoking cessation is aimed at a broad range of healthcare professionals including GPs, practice nurses and managers, dentists, pharmacists, and health visitors, as well as other professionals who come into contact with smokers through the course of their work.
Nicky McKee, Senior Manager for Public Health at the HPA, said: �Evidence shows that brief advice from a healthcare professional during a routine consultation with a smoker can be effective in encouraging them to quit for six months or longer and could enable an additional 6,700 smokers in Northern Ireland to quit each year.1
�The course has already received very positive feedback from a number of health professionals who were involved in the pilot and we hope that it will prove an effective tool to aid smoking cessation in Northern Ireland and potentially further afield.�
Brief interventions in smoking cessation incorporates seven modules, which focus on the effects of smoking, reasons why people smoke, and details on appropriate advice to give to smokers. Professionals interested in the course can register free at:www.hpa-pod.org
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For media enquiries contact:
Rosie McGaughey or Jenny Dougan at the HPA on Tel: 028 9031 1611.
1 Raw M, McNeill A, West R. Smoking cessation guidelines for health professionals - a guide to effective smoking cessation interventions for the health care system. Thorax 1998; 53 (Suppl 5): S1-S18.
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