Tips From Doctors - Best Ways to Quit Smoking

Motivated Quitters With Good Support Systems Most Likely to Kick the Habit

Aug. 7, 2006 —The ABC News medical unit has asked a group of primary care physicians for their opinions on what they've found works best in helping their patients quit smoking. The following is a collection of their responses:

Different strategies work for different smokers, and many smokers need to try a few strategies before they successfully quit. Pharmacological and behavioral interventions work only when patients truly want to quit and are willing to make multiple quit attempts.

In my clinical experience, getting smokers to the point at which they are truly motivated to quit is the toughest part. Higher tobacco prices, more restrictions on where smokers can light up, the worry about hurting family members with secondhand smoke, and personal health scares are the most powerful motivating factors in the desire to quit.

To tackle tobacco use, the United States needs to commit firmly to tax and smoke-free environmental policies, school-based prevention programs, and must require health insurance companies to cover the costs of smoking-cessation programs. The issue goes beyond such questions as "Does counseling or nicotine replacement work better?'" -- Dr. Christine Laine, senior deputy editor, Annals of Internal Medicine, and clinical associate professor of medicine, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia.

The most effective smoking-cessation method I have seen is a motivated person setting a quit date and using Zyban combined with counseling, or working with an accountability partner. -- Dr. Ted Palen, Colorado Permanente Medical Group

I make sure that both the patient and significant other are in the room when I am counseling. … Also, the significant other can work in concert with me to get my patient to quit. -- Dr. Kevin Rossi, Orchard Medical Offices, Bellflower Service Area, California

We believe that smoking should be considered like a vital sign. That is, it should be addressed at every visit to the doctor's office. The most effective ways to help patients quit seems to be a combination of physician advice and referral to a quit line.

As a family physician, I have found that persistent, recurrent reminders to patients about the need to quit and the benefits of quitting smoking are effective in many people. When that is coupled with medications that provide nicotine replacement, such as the patch or gum, tobacco cessation rates exceed those of any one method alone.

The New York State Academy of Family Physicians did a pilot study among our physician members a few years ago to investigate the efficacy of intensive doctor-patient contact and follow-up on cessation rates. We found that in this study of more than 200 patients, quit rates were higher in patients who paid frequent visits to their family physician. -- Dr. James William Mold, the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures