AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY TE WANANGA ARONUI O TAMAKI MAKAU RAU Smoking cessation education and Schools of Nursing Grace Wong Smokefree Nurses Aotearoa/New Zealand Nursing, AUT Evelyn Hikuroa Nursing, MIT

Background Smoking is the largest preventable cause of death and disease in New Zealand Some 5,000 people die annually from smoking (MoH 2009) The Ministry of Health have set targets as follows: 80 percent of hospitalised smokers will be provided with advice and help to quit by July 2010; 90 percent by July 2011; and 95 percent by July Similar primary care targets to follow

The MoH aims to have all health care practitioners embed ABC smoking cessation interventions in their practice The Nursing Council of NZ supports smoking cessation and Quit Card provision by nurses Forty minute training for health professionals is available online (smokingcessationabc.org.nz)

A key success indicator for implementing the ABC approach is: “100% of all undergraduate courses related to health care have implemented ABC training into their curricula” (Jenkins, 2009, p.19). 3 rd year nursing students can become Quit Card providers Registered nurses identify Schools of Nursing as critical agents for changes in the culture and practice of nurses

Aims To identify How many undergraduate nursing degree programmes included smoking cessation education in the curricula What smoking cessation interventions were taught Where in the curricula these were being taught How these were being assessed Who was teaching them

Methods Online survey of all undergraduate Schools of Nursing (n=17) Heads of School were asked to forward an invitation and survey link to staff who might be involved in smoking cessation education Data were analysed using Microsoft Excel 2007 Multiple responses from individual Schools were collated to provide individual School profiles

Results Response rate 82% (n=14) Mainstream providers only responded 86% provided some form of smoking cessation education n –ABC approach only5 –ABC and other3 –Other only4 –No education2 Three schools included hypnotherapy and/or acupuncture and/or Allen Carr Nine (64%) schools included education about NRT

Total hours of taught smoking cessation education per school ranged from 1 – 5 Five Schools included assessment in their curricula One school which did not teach smoking cessation did not intend to change Two Schools appeared to have a coordinated approach Inconsistencies in data and “don’t know” responses from individuals within schools (n=6) show that smoking cessation education is fragmented across curricula

Discussion Limitations –The survey was not necessarily distributed to all relevant staff –Responses reflect the knowledge of individual staff members and thus are affected by the availability of knowledge about the curriculum overall Smoking cessation education is not taught in two schools; it is fragmented and/or desultory in at least six Schools

A minority of Schools teach current best practice guidelines solely It is concerning that hypnotherapy, acupuncture or Allen Carr’s method are taught as smoking cessation methods; there is weak or insufficient evidence to support them (Cochrane Collaboration; MoH, 2007)

Case Study MIT Manukau Institute of Technology Overcome barriers Good support from management Need champion Need evidence Educate others Use existing smoking cessation competencies to integrate across all programmes Universal goal to normalise as a vital sign

Conclusion There is disjunction between the significance of the issue of smoking; Ministry of Health targets; the need the demand for trained staff by industry; and preparation of undergraduate nurses to support people who smoke to quit All Schools of Nursing need to provide coordinated smoking cessation education in accordance with current best practice guidelines Acknowledgements: –Staff in Schools of Nursing who participated –Gil Stokes –Nick Garrett