Rack cards the team developed to alert pre-surgical patients to the need to quit smoking.
Program Information
Program
Information
Why Surgery?
The Stop Smoking Before Surgery (SSBS) program was designed to deliver targeted smoking cessation support at times and in settings that facilitate the cessation process. Most smokers are thinking about quitting and an upcoming surgery provides a timeline as well as an incentive to quit because cessation before any type of surgery also reduces the risk of complications.
Harmonization Efforts
Integrating interventions in day-to-day practice and demonstrating their effectiveness is one of the largest challenges in tobacco reduction and cancer prevention. The harmonization of 3 partners’ efforts to deliver the SSBS program is a key strategy to address this challenge. By working together, the Canadian Cancer Society, BC Cancer Agency and Northern Health are combining their resources to create a strong regional prevention initiative. Furthermore, the introduction of the program in 2 communities will act as a vehicle to road test mechanisms for partnership, communication and harmonization amongst the 3 partners. The findings will inform region-wide implementation of the SSBS, the development and implementation of the M-HEAL project, and guide the Canadian Cancer Society’s future work.
The SSBS Program
The SSBS program supports health professionals to make use of existing provincial resources to support smoking cessation. For example, the BC Ministry of Health provides 12 weeks of nicotine replacement therapy per calendar year for tobacco users. Additionally, all BC residents can access QuitNow, a provincial program that supports smoking cessation and offers follow-up support by phone, text, or web.
Clinic Resources for Quitting Smoking
One goal of the SSBS program is to support health care providers to provide brief intervention to tobacco users at all clinic visits. All health care providers in the Northern Health region were invited to use the 5 A’s (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange) brief intervention to address tobacco use as a standard of care. The SSBS project team delivered cessation resources in plastic holders to most physicians’ offices in Northern Health.
These included:
Rack cards to alert patients about the BC Ministry of Health’s program that provides 12 weeks of nicotine replacement therapy per calendar year for tobacco users.
View PDF
QuitNow SMART steps booklets: A free guide developed by QuitNow specifically designed to help tobacco users quit.
View PDF
QuitNow smart steps booklet for Aboriginal populations: A free guide developed by QuitNow specifically designed to help aboriginal tobacco users quit.
View PDF
QuitNow fax Referral forms: A form developed by QuitNow that health care providers can use to refer patients to QuitNow services via fax.
View PDF
Health care providers can also re-order print copies of these resources through the Northern Health Centre for Healthy Living at no cost! To reorder E-mail: TobaccoFree@northernhealth.ca. In your request, please be sure to state:
- What you would like to reorder
- The quantity you would like
- Shipping information
QuitNow Resources & Promotion
The SSBS team worked with the BC Lung Association to develop new surgery specific smoking cessation resources for QuitNow. These new resources along with photos and quotes of people from the north are now available on the QuitNow.ca website to people throughout the province. In addition, the SSBS team also provided guidance to QuitNow counsellors so that they can better support surgical patients in quitting smoking and staying smoke free. Finally, QuitNow is included on all SSBS promotional resources including rack cards, posters, stress balls, banners and the recovery brochure in order to promote patient use of this provincial resource.
BC Lung is a key partner in the Stop Smoking Before Surgery initiative. By working together the following resources are now available on the QuitNow website:
Gender specific tips for quitting before surgery.
Click to access tips for men
Click to access tips for women
Downloadable resources for health care providers to help their surgical patients quit.
Click to access
Evidence summaries with more information about the benefits of stopping smoking for surgery and some unfounded myths.
Click to access
Ongoing Hospital Support
The SSBS initiative involves the incorporation of a systematic approach to encourage tobacco users to quit prior to surgery and stay smoke free for recovery. After obtaining support from the Northern Health Board and Surgical Council, two Northern Health hospitals were chosen as pilot sites: the University Hospital of Northern BC (UHNBC) and Prince Rupert Regional Hospital.
In order to support the uptake of the SSBS program by health care providers in the hospitals, the SSBS project team is meeting with the Directors of Care, Surgical Managers, and hospital personnel. The team also delivered resources to support smoking cessation to these hospitals. Finally, the SSBS project team assisted with the creation of a brief intervention training module for health care providers in Northern Health.
Hospital based support for SSBS includes:
- Questions about tobacco are now on the electronic surgical booking system (SurgiNet) being used at UHNBC in Prince George. These questions will ensure that all patients are screened for tobacco use and all smokers are informed of the benefits of quitting and linked to the provincial cessation services prior to their surgery.
- “Have you used any tobacco products in the last 6 months?”
- “Are you aware that stopping smoking before surgery lowers the risk of surgical complications and improves healing?”
- “Have you been referred to Quitnow and HealthLinkBC 8-1-1 for provincial smoking cessation services?”
- Questions about tobacco use on the nursing assessment form
- “Have you used tobacco in the last 6 months?”
- “Have you used tobacco in the last 7 days?”
- A statement has been developed for inclusion in pre-admission information handouts about SSBS
- You can reduce your risk of complications during and after surgery if you stop using tobacco.
- Stopping at least 6 to 8 weeks before surgery is recommended, and quitting at any time before surgery can lead to improved health outcomes.
- For assistance to quit, visit QuitNow.ca and search “Stop Smoking Before Surgery” or call HealthLink 8-1-1.
Stress balls that patients can squeeze to keep their hands busy were developed by the SSBS team and distributed to the hospitals to help reinforce the message to patients to ‘stay smoke free’.
Discharge Brochure “Stay Smoke Free for Recovery”: This discharge brochure was developed by the SSBS team for patients leaving the hospital so that all patients would be reminded to continue to stay smoke free as they recover at home.
View PDF
Lanyard tags: Lanyard tags with the 5As were developed by the SSBS project team are available free for health care providers who want a ‘quick reminder’ at their fingertips.
View PDF
Brief intervention training: This training video, developed for NH staff, is an 18 minute session can be accessed at work or home. The video provides guidance about how the 5A’s can be used to identify tobacco users and help them quit.
Watch Video
Other related initiatives that support the Stop Smoking Before Surgery Program at these two hospitals include: the nicotine withdrawal protocol, and the smoke free grounds policy.
Supporting Northern Health institutions to adopt a systematic practice for addressing tobacco use prior to surgery is an ongoing goal of the SSBS project team.
Raising Public Awareness
The Stop Smoking Before Surgery project team has also taken initiative to spread the word about the benefits of stopping smoking for surgery.
As part of this effort to raise public awareness, activities and resources for SSBS include:
Video screens in hospital waiting areas across the North are now displaying information about the benefits of stopping smoking for surgery
View Slides
The project team developed posters and banners about the benefits of stopping smoking for surgery
View PDF
Hospital based promotions: Nursing students and other volunteers have been periodically setting up displays at northern BC hospitals to raise awareness of the benefits of Stopping smoking for surgery. Depicted are nursing students Cassie Dussault and Jamie Armes at a display at UHNBC Nov 27, 2013.
A video blog with the Northern Health CEO, Cathy Ulrich, can be seen here.
The “Preparing for Surgery” section of the Northern Health website now includes information about SSBS and an educational video module developed for patients. Watch the video here.
In order to raise awareness of the benefits of quitting for surgery, the SSBS team also organized several media releases, distributed information in newsletters, and gave a number of presentations. Check out our news and events page for more information about these activities.
Patient Stories
We know that the experiences of other people can be very helpful to people who are trying to quit. Several residents of northern BC have agreed to share their stories, and we hope that these stories will encourage and support others in their decision to stop smoking before surgery.
Debi Lyn, a cancer survivor from northern B.C., shares with you her experience of being a smoker and going through surgery. [watch video]
“I stopped smoking 3 months before my surgery because I wanted to be as healthy as I could going into it…” [read full story]
“I wondered how I would be able to go without smoking for a whole day in the hospital…” [read full story]
“The deal was made – I would never touch another cigarette again…” [read full story]
Program Overview
The Canadian Cancer Society, BC Cancer Agency and Northern Health, along with researchers from the University of British Columbia and Athabasca University, have worked together to develop POWERPLAY, a new approach to employee wellness for men working in the north.
For more info on POWERPLAY, visit powerplayatwork.com.
Did You Know?
That men and boys in northern BC consistently have death rates higher than their female counterparts? Men not only die sooner, but the mortality rates show they also die more frequently, from all causes of death, with the exception of lung cancer, which has become an “equal opportunity” disease.1
Northern men face greater rates of obesity,2 and the mortality rates due to cancer are high in northern BC comparison to other health regions in British Columbia.3
About half of all cancers can be prevented by making lifestyle changes such as stopping smoking, getting regular physical activity, and eating a healthy diet.4
- 1. Death rates and causes, men and women. Northern Health 2009
- 2. Kerr J. (2011). Where are the Men? Chief Medical Health Officer’s Report on the Health and Wellbeing of Men and Boys in Northern BC
- 3. British Columbia Vital Statistics Agency. (2011). Summary Statistics by Health Authority, British Columbia, 2007-2011
- 4. Parkin, D.M. (2011). The fraction of cancer attributable to lifestyle and environmental factors in the UK in 2010. British Journal of Cancer, 105, S77-S81.
Icons from Freepik – CC BY 3.0
Quitting smoking before surgery is an important part of cancer prevention and plays a key role in health outcomes.
Margaret Jones-Bricker, Canadian Cancer Society.
Our Northern Health staff are ready to help patients stop smoking before surgery and to stay smoke-free.
Lucy Beck, Northern Health.
Are you looking for a reason to quit? Here’s a good one – you’ll decrease your risks during and after surgery.
Nancy Viney, Northern Health.
I see patients recover from surgery faster when they are smoke-free. They say it’s not easy to stop – but worth it.
Ryan Dirnback, Northern Health.
To prepare for surgery takes careful thought, planning, support and courage. A perfect time to stop smoking.
Dr. Nadine Caron, University Hospital of Northern BC.
Stopping smoking before surgery reduces risk. Allow your body time to heal after surgery as well by staying tobacco free.
Jim Coyle, Northern Health.
It’s about family. Find the things that work for your family to eat better and get more active.
Brandon Grant, Government of Nunavut.
