Tobacco Interventions Delivered by Pharmacists: A Summary and Systematic Review

Abstract

The uncontrolled and controlled studies reviewed demonstrate that pharmacists can deliver tobacco-cessation interventions, and the evidence strongly suggests that they are effective in helping smokers to quit. Future studies conducted in the United States that are well controlled and include biochemical verification of smoking status are needed to provide definitive confirmation that pharmacist-delivered interventions are effective for smoking cessation. With the availability and expanded training of pharmacists, this is an opportune time for testing and disseminating evidence-based research evaluating the effectiveness of pharmacist-delivered tobacco-cessation services.

A 4-year Follow-up Evaluation Of A Pharmacist-managed Smoking Cessation Programme With Emphasis On Effectiveness Of Different Treatment Modalities

“…Pharmacists are readily-available cessation source with the tools and capacity to fight this tobacco epidemic. In the United States of America, a systemic review of 15 studies from year 1980 to 2006 reported statistically significant differences in the effectiveness of smoking cessation services comparing the control groups with those of pharmacist-based intervention 5 .…”

A tailored intervention to support pharmacy-based counseling for smoking cessation

“…Cessation rates obtained in this study compare favorably with those obtained in recent work using pharmacist-led face-to-face counseling sessions (Dent, Harris, & Noonan, 2009). Other research also has shown that pharmacist interventions for smoking cessation are both effective (Dent, Harris, & Noonan, 2007;Sinclair, Bond, & Stead, 2004) and cost-effective (Tran, Holdford, Kennedy, & Small, 2002) in terms of cost per successful quit attempt and cost per life-year saved.…”

Assessment of Assistance in Smoking Cessation Therapy by Pharmacies in Collaboration with Medical Institutions<br/>&mdash; Implementation of a Collaborative Drug Therapy Management Protocol Based on a Written Agreement between Physicians and Pharmacists &mdash;

“…8 11) Still another study reported that the patient group with higher frequency of intervention showed signiˆcantly greater improvement in the cessation rate. 12) A systematic review 13) and meta-analysis 14) that examined articles on smoking cessation guidance by pharmacists also suggested that such guidance was eŠective. In Japan, the Hanamaki Pharmacists Association reported a successful case of cessation guidance using Nicorette .…”