OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of a nurse-delivered smoking cessation intervention on short-term smoking abstinence among hospitalized postoperative patients. DESIGN: Prospective, experimental, random assignment. SETTING: Midwestern university-affiliated tertiary medical center. PATIENTS: Postoperative smokers (n = 80) from cardiovascular, oncology, and general surgical units. Outcome measure: Self-reported smoking status and saliva cotinine level at 5 to 6 weeks after hospitalization. INTERVENTION: Three structured smoking cessation sessions during hospitalization, followed by phone calls once a week for 5 weeks after discharge. RESULTS: Of the experimental group patients, 37.8% were abstinent as compared to 25.6% in the usual care group. Abstinence rates of experimental group patients from cardiovascular (40%) and oncology (64.3%) units were higher than that of GS (13.3%) unit patients. Regardless of group assignment, 100% of cardiovascular and oncology patients abstained during hospitalization, compared to only 10.7% of GS patients. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary results indicate that a nurse-delivered cessation intervention may be effective postoperatively among smokers with an identified smoking-related diagnosis.

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