FACILITATING TOBACCO DEPENDENCE TREATMENT THROUGH NURSING EDUCATION: AN EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION

Finkelstein Auditorium

Objective. The purpose of the project was to increase nursing students’: (a) knowledge of tobacco, tobacco dependence, and available evidence-based tobacco dependence treatments; (b) skills to counsel patients to quit tobacco; and (c) self- efficacy to treat tobacco dependent patients. Background. Tobacco dependence is a major public health issue that kills 480,000 Americans annually, and a chronic relapsing condition that requires intervention with effective treatments. Nurses are in a unique position to make an enormous impact in tobacco cessation. Studies illuminate a large tobacco dependence treatment educational gap in nursing curricula that leaves nurses ill-prepared to treat tobacco dependent patients. Methods. An evidence-based tobacco dependence treatment education intervention was provided to undergraduate and graduate nursing students. Results. Comparison of pre- and post-intervention measures demonstrated increases in the areas of knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy. Conclusion. Providing tobacco dependence treatment education to undergraduate and graduate nursing students increases students' knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy to treat tobacco dependent patients. Grants. N/A