The Impact of a Nurse-Led Service on Tobacco Treatment Provision Within a Psychiatric Hospital: A Time Series Study

INTRODUCTION: Psychiatric hospitalization is an opportunity to provide evidence-based tobacco treatment to optimize cessation efforts among people living with mental illnesses (MI). The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of nurse-driven initiatives to enhance tobacco treatment within an inpatient psychiatric setting. AIMS: We assessed the 4-year impact of implementing a nurse-led tobacco treatment service offered to 11,314 inpatients at admissions in a tobacco-free psychiatric facility in Kentucky. METHOD: Through a time-series design, we compared the differences in rates of screening for tobacco use and providing treatment from September to December 2015 (prior to implementing the nurse-led tobacco treatment services) to each subsequent year in a 4-year period (2016-2019). RESULTS: Approximately 60.0% of inpatients were persons using tobacco during the assessment period. Although there were no changes in tobacco use prevalence over the 4-year evaluation duration, there were significant increases in the provision of practical counseling and Food and Drug Administration-approved nicotine replacement therapies for persons using tobacco. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the effectiveness of implementing tobacco treatment programs at the organizational level. Psychiatric hospitalizations provide an opportunity to optimize nurse-driven efforts to deliver tobacco treatment to people with MI. Similar models of nurse-led tobacco treatment services can be adopted within inpatient and other mental and behavioral health settings.