The impact of pharmacist-led smoking cessation program at community pharmacy

Objective: It was aimed to retrospectively evaluate the effects of clinical pharmacist-led smoking cessation program directed with nicotine replacement therapy including nicotine gum and nicotine tablet by determining the quitting rate of participants. Method: This study was conducted between June 2009-June 2010. At the first meeting, the demographic and clinical data were collected and 'the Fagerstrom Nicotine Addiction Test' was applied to each participants. The clinical pharmacist informed the participants about the harms of smoking and also advised the appropriate over the counter nicotine replacement products according to each participant's degree of dependence. Participants were monitored by the pharmacist at regular intervals, either face-to-face or by telephone throughout the 12-month study period. Results: The study was conducted on 33 subjects. The mean age of the participants were 41.57 +/- 11.90 (range: 24-66). According to the results of the Fagerstrom Nicotine Addiction Test, 15 of them were determined as low nicotine dependent, 9 of them were determined as medium dependent and 9 participants were determined as high dependent. Two patients were lost to follow-up and the study was completed with 31 patients. At the end of the study, it was determined that 64.5% of the 31 participants successfully quitted smoking by the pharmacist-led smoking cessation program at the community pharmacy. Conclusion: According to these data, it was seen that pharmacists who are the competent and easy to access health care provider should involve in smoking cessation programs.