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Making Smoking Cessation Counseling a Routine Part of Prenatal Care

Many programs, services and products are available to help you incorporate evidence-based smoking cessation counseling (the "5 A's") into your routine care of pregnant women. Several useful products are described below. Download pdf version.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has just produced a training manual called "Smoking Cessation During Pregnancy: A Clinician's Guide to Helping Pregnant Women Quit Smoking." This new educational program provides the background and tools necessary for clinicians to implement an effective, evidence-based intervention, called the "5 A's" in the office. It includes:

• Monograph that describes the "5 A's" and how to integrate the "5 A's" into routine prenatal care.
• Photocopy-ready office tools, such as an intervention documentation flow sheet for a patient's medical record, a quick-reference card on how to ask about smoking status, and checklist and role assignment chart for launching the "5 A's" in any practice setting.
• Case studies that lay out eight clinician/patient scenarios. Each interaction includes dialogue and key points to consider when counseling women who smoke.
• Patient education workbook, Need Help Putting Out that Cigarette. Developed by the Smoke-Free Families national program, this 28-page pregnancy specific self-help booklet includes benefits of quitting for you and your baby, ways to prepare to quit, setting a quit date, how to handle "slips" and tips for after the baby is born.
• A laminated pocket card with the questions and responses to ask pregnant smokers; cues for the other four A's, and national resource information with a place to list local help lines or other resources.
• A slide presentation in PowerPoint, along with lecture notes as a PDF may be downloaded from the ACOG web site (http://acog.org, click on "women's health issues", click on "smoking cessation")

Three hours of CME are available through ACOG for completion of the program.

To order a single copy of the guide: e-mail smoking@acog.org. Please include your name, affiliation, and mailing address with your request. To order multiple copies: email smoking@acog.org. Please type "PROGRAM" in the subject line of the email and include a summary of the training or dissemination activity, target audience, faculty, and date/location of the event. Due to a limited supply, bulk orders will be reviewed and fulfilled on a case-by-case basis. You may also fill out and mail or fax an order form.

If you haven't seen the latest PHS Guidelines for clinicians, they are located at: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/tobaqrg.htm

There is a webcast on the "5 A's", produced by Cicatelli and Associates, that you can download at: http://webcast.mediaondemand.com/cicatelli/20020111/webcast.html (link temporarily down)

Your local chapter of the American Cancer Society (call the national line at 1-800-ACS-2345 for a referral) may conduct smoking cessation trainings for clinicians, their program is called "Make Yours a Fresh Start Family" and there is a description at:
http://www.cancer.org/eprise/main/docroot/PED/content/PED_1_5X_Make_Yours_A_FreshStart_Family

The Pennsylvania chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics has produced a video for clinicians called "Breaking the Chain." Copies can be ordered from Dottie Schell at 610-527-1023. A description of the video can be located at:
http://www.aahp.org/atmc/2000minutes.htm

Please check back with our website - we will have several more products coming out in the near future, including a "virtual mini-fellowship" for clinicians who want to treat pregnant smokers in their practice.

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