Improving Screening for Tobacco Use in Adolescent Inpatients at a Children's Hospital

Introduction: Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. The majority of tobacco users begin before 19 years of age and approximately 25% of high school students report using tobacco products with 16% of those using electronic cigarettes. Despite high rates of tobacco use in adolescents and known associations with poor health outcomes, screening and treatment in the inpatient setting often is lacking. The specific aims of this quality improvement project were 1) to increase screening for tobacco use to …