Smoking Cessation - A Practical Paradigm for Doctors
https://doi.org/10.33591/sfp.47.4.u3
- Author:
Kian Chung Ong
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- From:The Singapore Family Physician
2021;47(4):17-21
- CountrySingapore
- Language:English
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Abstract:
Helping people to stop smoking is a highly cost-effective and an important means of preventing cardiovascular disease such as ischemic heart disease and stroke. A doctor who fails to provide smoking cessation counselling to a patient who smokes is no better than a doctor who neglects to prescribe a cholesterol – lowering drug. Many smokers want to stop
smoking, and others may be receptive to encouragement to stop. As doctors, we are in a unique position to help our patients stop smoking because our advice on health matters
is trusted more than anyone else’s (or so we should hope to think). This article was first published in the Singapore Family Physician in 2008, and focuses on what a doctor should do with a patient who smokes. An additional update on alternatives to cigarettes has been added.
