Nurses' delivery of the Tobacco Tactics intervention at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Aims And Objectives: To determine (1) factors associated with nurses' perceived confidence in and importance of delivering cessation interventions to patients after receiving the Tobacco Tactics educational module, and (2) whether self-reported delivery of smoking cessation services increased after the Tobacco Tactics educational programme was implemented.

Background: Intensive nurse-based inpatient smoking cessation interventions are effective; however, due to a lack of nurse confidence, training and time, nurse-administered cessation interventions are seldom implemented.

Design: Two cross-sectional surveys among staff trained in the Tobacco Tactics programme, conducted at two months and 15 months post-training.

Methods: Surveys were conducted to determine whether self-reported delivery of smoking cessation services by nursing staff increased after delivery of the Tobacco Tactics training at a Midwestern Veterans Affairs Medical Center. All staff members who attended the training were eligible to complete the surveys at two and 15 months post-training.

Results: Having a good understanding of the elements of smoking cessation interventions and satisfaction with training were associated with perceived confidence and importance of delivering smoking cessation interventions. Additionally, 86% of participants reported delivering cessation interventions 15 months post-training compared with 57% prior to training (p < 0·0001).

Conclusions: Training nurses how to deliver tobacco cessation interventions increases delivery of cessation services.

Relevance To Clinical Practice: Nurse-delivered cessation interventions have the potential to increase quit rates and decrease morbidity and mortality among patient populations.