British tobacco cessation specialist Jennifer Percival
displays the treatments freely available to stop smoking
and prevent the diseases associated with the habit. Photo
by Rebecca Fox.
They will not be the health police but they may save your
life, visiting British tobacco cessation specialist Jennifer
Percival says.
New Zealand is extending its programme for nurses to offer
stop smoking help from hospitals to family health practices.
In New Zealand, there were 5000 "needless" deaths a year
related to smoking but if people stopped soon enough they
could recover and never get ill, Ms Percival said.
"The longer you smoke, the higher the risk. One out of two
die before their time."
In the past 15 months the number of people offered stop
smoking support in Otago and Southland hospitals had risen
from 21% to 64%.
In England, nurses had been giving similar advice since 2000,
and Ms Percival, who works for the Royal College of Nursing,
had been brought over to share their experiences in workshops
with nurses and midwives around the country, including in
Dunedin on Thursday.
"We're not the health police. It's all about giving people a
hand."
Ms Percival, a nurse and midwife, said it had been shown that
with support and medical assistance people were four times
more likely to be able to quit. Only three out of 100 smokers
were still not smoking a year later, if they quit unaided.
"The nurses won't be telling you off or nagging you ... just
giving you something to make it possible to do it without
agonising."
It would be challenging for nurses as most smokers did not
understand they had a physical addiction, she said.
"They might make that decision to quit but inside they are
sabotaged by their addiction and habit. Just setting your
mind to it isn't quite enough."
They needed to understand it was an illness and like other
illnesses needed medical treatment.
Today, there were effective therapeutic drugs, such as
patches and tablets which were fully subsidised by the
Government, she said.
"These drugs make it easier so you don't go through hell. You
are not a wimp if you use patches or chewing gum."
Nurses were often the ones who had to ask if people smoked so
now they would be equipped to give smokers a solution.
"They'll have a bit more of an understanding of the
psychology and be able to take on the bulk of the counselling
work."
In England, a similar programme had reduced the number of
smokers from 30% to 20% of the population aged 16 and over in
10 years, she said.
- rebecca.fox@odt.co.nz
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