Smoking cessation intervention in emergency neurology - introduction of a new practice

Introduction Emergency neurological patients are rarely given opportunities for smoking and alcohol intervention. How-ever, both are relevant in the acute phase as well as in future rehabilitation.Objectives The aim of this study was primarily to illustrate the implementation of motivational counselling in an acute neurological department and also to predict factors influencing this motivation.MethodsDuring a four-month period, 100 smoking emergency patients, including 18 patients with hazardously drinking patterns, were admitted with acute neurological illness, offered behavioural counselling before discharge, participated in a six week hospital-based smoking cessation or alcohol intervention programme, and followed-up after six months.ResultsOf the 100 patients studied, 87 accepted counselling regarding smoking and 16 patients received counselling for both smoking and alcohol. The younger patients had the highest level of motivation. Sixty (69%) patients were con- tactable at follow-up; of these, 18 patients had continuously quit smoking for six months and the other 15 patients had ceased or reduced their smoking habits. The followed-up group included only 6 (38%) with hazardous drinking patterns. ConclusionThe majority of smokers admitted due to emergency neurological illness accepted an offer for motivational counselling followed by a six week smoking cessation programme. The results indicated that this counselling led a signifi-cant proportion of the patients to cease or reduce their smoking habits.