General Practitioner as a Smoking Cessation Officer

[Name of the Institute]

Task 2: General Practitioner as a Smoking Cessation Officer

Introduction

According to the survey conducted in 2012, tobacco smoking is killing more than 19000 people in the United States of America each year. These figures are quite alarming as the number of people smokers is increasing day by day not only in US but worldwide. In this critical situation, smoking cessation campaigns and programs can play instrumental role. With this, it is equally important to design a set of guidelines that can assist the general practitioners to more efficiently identify tobacco smokers and provide every possible help to stop this practice (Kenford, et al, 1994, p.589-594).

The set of guidelines have been formulated after reviewing the number of smokers. This aims at assisting smoking cessation and its risk factors. New general practitioners, who have been appointed as a Smoking cessation officer, must acquaint themselves with the sound knowledge of demographic information of the area. He must have the first hand knowledge of the area he has been appointed in as an officer.

General Information

There are many health models available for seeking help, such as Smokescreen Program, the Stage of Change Model. These models have successfully been implemented in their respective areas. The results show that they are successful in reducing the number of smokers in the region. It is very important that the steps taken by the cessation officer must be in compliance with the National Tobacco Campaign. With this, they must be unswerving with the approach to identify risk factors. The cessation officer must also work in collaboration with the smoking, Nutrition, Alcohol and Physical Activity framework recommended by the joint Advisory Group on General Practice and Population.

Importance of the Anti-Smoking Campaigns

The National Drug Strategy Household Survey (2001) observed the degree of drug use in people ranging from teen to adulthood and found the extent of tobacco use, which is as follow;

22% teenagers are weekly or daily smokers (18 % weekly and 20% daily)

Among daily smokers, 22% are men and 18% are women

16% teens are daily smokers: 16 % of female teenagers and 15 % of male teenagers

20-29 age group ranks the highest in smoking

Average use of smoking pr week is 109 (16 per day)

The use of smoking is higher in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Different communities have different rate of usage. However, the overall rate in the world is 54% men are smokers and among women, the percentage is more than 30. Prevalence of smoking in people with psychological problems ranges from 55 to 85%. In some of the countries, such as Australia and America, smoking is the major cause of disability and death. According to the rough estimates, use of tobacco costs Australia more than $22 billion every year (Lumley, 2000, p. 200).

Smoking and its Impact on Health

4000 chemical compounds including tar, carbon monoxide are present in tobacco smoke. Other compounds are acetone, hydrogen cyanide, ammonia phenol, arsenic, naphthalene cadmium and polyvinyl chloride. All of these ...