PROJECT SUMMARY
Tobacco use remains the leading cause of death in the United States and contributes to more than 7 million
hospitalizations annually. Hospitalization offers a critical window for intervention: hospital policies prohibit
smoking, patients are highly motivated to quit, and societal guidelines recommend that clinicians should
counsel patients and prescribe smoking cessation pharmacotherapy (SCP) to virtually all smokers.
Nevertheless, only 22% of patients are ever prescribed SCP while hospitalized and only 1% of patients are
prescribed guideline-concordant SCP. This failure ultimately contributes to a 70-80% smoking relapse rate,
most of which occurs within a few days of hospital discharge – well before outpatient follow-up can occur.
If we are to capitalize on the opportunity that hospitalization provides to maximize smoking cessation
treatment and outcomes, new strategies are needed to overcome the low uptake of guideline-concordant SCP
by physicians and patients. To address this problem, we propose to deploy a nurse practitioner-led, hospital-
based tobacco treatment team to: 1) prescribe individually tailored and guideline-concordant SCP; 2) counsel
and motivate patients to use SCP properly; and 3) and manage a mobile phone-based text-messaging system
to keep patients motivated and adherent to SCP. Our preliminary data suggest that such an approach is
feasible and acceptable to patients, physicians, and hospital administrators.
In Aim 1, we will perform a parallel-group implementation-effectiveness randomized trial among 424
hospitalized smokers with a cardiopulmonary disease in a large tertiary hospital. We will compare rates of SCP
use and smoking cessation between patients who received the intervention and those who did not. In Aim 2,
we will measure the economic value of the intervention from both a hospital and payer perspective to better
inform hospital and insurance policies and sustainability. In Aim 3, we will perform qualitative interviews with
patients, physicians, staff members, and hospital administrators to evaluate the acceptability and sustainability
of our strategies. We hypothesize that our intervention will: improve guideline-concordant SCP use; increase 6-
month smoking cessation rates; be acceptable to patients, clinicians, and administrators; and be cost-effective
and sustainable.
Our multi-disciplinary team has broad experience in cardiopulmonary medicine, tobacco treatment,
implementation science, medication adherence, qualitative methods, health economics, and text message
technology. At the conclusion of this grant, our team will develop a detailed, evidence-informed implementation
guide for a hospital-based tobacco treatment team. Ultimately, we anticipate the knowledge gained from this
study will facilitate widespread and effective hospital-based tobacco treatment so that more patients lead lives
free from tobacco and cardiopulmonary disease.
