A simple set of decision-support tools combined with institutional buy-in can help increase the number of cancer patients who engage in treatment to help them quit tobacco, data from researchers in the Abramson Cancer Center show. The study is based on researchers’ clinical experience with Penn’s Tobacco Use Treatment Service (TUTS), which combines technology tied to electronic health records with tried and true treatment methods to support patients in their efforts to kick their habit for good. The Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network published the findings.
More than 50 percent of cancer patients who smoked before their diagnosis continue to smoke—even after their treatment is over—according to a report from the Surgeon General. That same report also concluded that quitting smoking improves the prognosis of cancer patients, leading to calls across the field of oncology to implement tobacco cessation treatments within cancer care.
TUTS was designed as a response to that call to action. Supported by the Cancer Moonshot and embedded in Penn Medicine’s Radiation Oncology Department, the program systematically identifies smokers through electronic health records, provides personalized and persuasive advice to quit smoking, and facilitates referrals to evidence-based smoking cessation treatments, including counseling and FDA-approved medication for tobacco dependence. The program is co-led by psychiatry professor Robert A. Schnoll, and Frank T. Leone, an associate professor of medicine.
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