ABSTRACT
Background: New lung cancer cases and annual deaths caused by lung cancers are significantly associated with tobacco smoking. Continued, routine smoking cessation prevention education has been linked with a decrease in lung cancer prevalence, resulting in a decline in new lung cancer diagnoses annually and ultimately less lung cancer-associated deaths in the United States.
Local problem: An independent review of core measures revealed inadequate smoking cessation education documentation and no established system-based monitoring protocols, including formal education of health care providers. The lack of education and understanding contributed to a low compliance rate of 25% in core measure documentation.
Methods: An educational program was designed to increase smoking cessation documentation core measures adherence. A preimplementation and postimplementation design was used to compare smoking cessation documentation compliance rates.
Intervention: The program included education in the form of guided handouts, practical demonstrations, and one-on-one teaching sessions. Compliance, under guidance set forth by the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative, was calculated over a quarterly period including all practice providers.
Results: Results revealed a smoking cessation documentation compliance rate of 25% preimplementation and 77% postimplementation, reflecting a 52% increase in rate of smoking cessation documentation adherence over a 6-month project period.
Conclusion: : Z-test analysis showed statistical significance determining the interventions are a successful method to help increase smoking cessation core measure compliance. The smoking cessation education program led to better understanding of core measures, improved documentation, increased revenue, and increased level of patient smoking cessation.