Can pharmacist support help you quit smoking?
Pharmacist support may help: 4 of 25 people who completed one clinic’s quit-smoking program stopped smoking.
The study looked back at care in an inner-city lung clinic. Pharmacists worked with lung specialists to support people trying to quit. The program included counseling, treatment choices, and follow-up phone calls. Calls checked medicine use and side effects, while offering ongoing encouragement. People reached by phone received monthly follow-up.
Treatment options included Nicotine Replacement Therapy, which delivers nicotine without smoke, and other quit-smoking medicines. Some treatment plans combined a nicotine patch with gum or lozenges. Others used varenicline, a medicine that helps people quit smoking.
Among the 25 people who completed counseling and the program, 16% stopped smoking. Another 24% were listed as improved. Most, 56%, had no change, while 4% worsened.
The results also differed by medicine use. Four of 16 people using quit-smoking medicines stopped smoking, or 25%. None of the nine people without medicines stopped. But these small groups cannot show that medicines caused the difference. The study did not randomly assign treatments. The reported comparison also left room for chance to explain the results. These numbers do not show which specific treatment worked best.
For BioSocial members, this offers a reason to track more than quit status. Daily cigarette counts, smoke-free days, cravings, and treatment use can tell a fuller story. Comparing notes may also reveal how regular support fits into each person’s progress. This report does not establish long-term success.
What changes have you noticed in your smoking numbers during quit attempts with regular support?