Smoking cessation: a community-based approach to continuing medical education.

Continuing medical education can help close the gaps between current and desired tobacco cessation practices. This paper reports a case of an innovative community-based continuing education approach implemented by a multi-organizational initiative aimed at increasing smoking cessation rates among adults in the USA. The approach involved collaborative partnerships with healthcare professionals and other stakeholders in 14 communities where smoking cessation was an established priority.

A CME approach to smoking cessation.

Overall, both project participants and project coordinators were very positive about their experiences and the outcomes of the projects. Several projects went beyond expectations, utilizing patient audits to determine outcomes and indicated changes in processes and behaviors to improve patient outcomes in smoking cessation. Many grantees indicated that their project was a catalyst for future programs and other policy changes.