An Evaluation of the Knowledge and Perceptions of Pharmacy Staff and Pre-Registration Students of E-Cigarettes Use: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Pharmacy staff are a trusted source of advice on the safe and appropriate use of medicines and devices. Retail pharmacies deliver smoking cessation services and sell e-cigarettes in the UK. This review asks ‘what knowledge, experience and ability do staff have to support e-cigarette users to quit smoking’. Methods: A systematic literature search was undertaken drawn on predefined eligibility criteria and a comprehensive search strategy following the PRISMA guideline. Eligible papers reported survey-research published in English from 2015 to 2020. PubMed, Google Scholar, OVID, EMBASE and MEDLINE Databases were searched. No restrictions on study design or language were applied. Two reviewers independently screened for inclusion/exclusion and then extracted the relevant information from the articles for synthesis. Results: Of 12 potentially eligible full-text studies, 1 was a duplicate, 7 were excluded as per eligibility criteria. Four papers were finally included in this literature review. Two studies indicated that pharmacy staff are less confident in giving advice on e-cigarette use. Knowledge on the adverse effects of e-cigarettes compared to traditional smoking cessation aids remain unclear. In one study, 42% of community pharmacists did not believe that e-cigarettes could be used for smoking cessation. Three studies identified need for specific regulations and professional support. The overall certainty of the evidence is ‘low’ or ‘very low’, with moderate levels of bias. Conclusion: Pharmacists may be well placed to implement e-cigarette smoking cessation interventions, but most practitioners lacked knowledge and ability to support these customers citing unclear risk of harm. Pharmacists felt secure in recommending traditional cessation tools. Further regulation, guidelines and training is needed. Findings may be less generalizable in countries where e-cigarettes are banned. Their extent of knowledge, experience and ability to support users of e-cigarettes within their community to quit smoking is lacking.

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On the Front Line of Smoking Cessation: Education Needs of Community Pharmacists

Canadian Pharmacists Journal / Revue des Pharmaciens du Canada ◽

10.1177/171516350513800306 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 138 (3) ◽

pp. 26-31 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Joan M. Brewster ◽

J. Charles Victor ◽

Mary Jane Ashley ◽

Claudine Laurier ◽

Rachel Dioso ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Smoking Cessation ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Community Pharmacists ◽

Pharmacy Education ◽

Additional Information ◽

Quit Smoking ◽

Wide Range ◽

Canadian Provinces ◽

To Receive ◽

And Training

Background: Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is now available without prescription, and pharmacists have an opportunity to be the primary health care professionals advising patients who want to try this smoking cessation aid. Undergraduate pharmacy education in Canada incorporates some tobacco-related training, and continuing education opportunities are available. However, there are no published reports of the self-reported educational needs of a broad sample of practising Canadian community pharmacists with regard to smoking cessation. Methods: Practising community pharmacists in four Canadian provinces were surveyed about their tobacco-related education and knowledge, practice environment, practices related to helping people quit smoking, needs for further information and training, and methods by which this information might be delivered. Results: A corrected response rate of 72% was obtained, giving a weighted n of 960 responses. Most Canadian community pharmacists reported that they would find it helpful to receive additional information or training on a wide range of smoking cessation topics, such as behavioural counselling techniques and motivating patients to quit. Pharmacists who reported that they were familiar with aids such as Helping Your Patients Quit Smoking: A Cessation Guide for Pharmacists (Canadian Pharmacists Association) and who reported that the guide had led them to make changes in their practice were more likely to report that additional information or training would be helpful. Pharmacists who perceived their tobacco-related clinical and non-clinical roles to be important were more likely to report that additional training would be helpful than were those who perceived these roles as less important. Conclusions: Although most Canadian community pharmacists would find it helpful to receive additional smoking-related information and training, those who perceive this to be an important activity and who are already using available materials showed the most interest. The challenge to Canadian pharmacy educators is to encourage the enthusiasm of those already interested in helping their patients to quit smoking, while raising the level of interest and motivation among all community pharmacists.

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Smoking Cessation Services by Community Pharmacists: Real-World Practice in Thailand

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph182211890 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (22) ◽

pp. 11890

Author(s):

Sunee Lertsinudom ◽

Pentipa Kaewketthong ◽

Tamonwan Chankaew ◽

Dujrudee Chinwong ◽

Surarong Chinwong

Keyword(s):

Smoking Cessation ◽

Community Pharmacy ◽

Real World ◽

Community Pharmacists ◽

Self Report ◽

P Value ◽

Quit Smoking ◽

Smoking Cessation Services ◽

Before And After ◽

Exhaled Carbon Monoxide

This study aimed to report the effectiveness of community pharmacy smoking cessation services in 13 health regions in Thailand using a retrospective data-collecting method from the Foundation of Community Pharmacy database. The participants were smokers aged at least 18 years. The outcomes were the abstinence of smoking at least 30 consecutive days by self-report only and self-report with exhaled CO level <7 ppm (if available), the number of cigarettes smoked daily, exhaled carbon monoxide (exhaled CO), and % peak expiratory flow rate (%PEFR); smokers measured these outcomes before and after receiving the smoking cessation services. Of 58 community pharmacies, 532 smokers (93% male, mean age of 42.4 ± 14.9 years) received smoking cessation services from community pharmacists. Of 235 smokers with complete data, 153 (28.8%, 153/532) smokers reported smoking abstinence by self-report. The mean number of cigarettes smoked daily reduced from 15.3 ± 8.7 to 1.9 ± 3.8 cigarettes, p-value < 0.001. The exhaled CO levels of smokers significantly reduced from 11.7 ± 5.9 ppm to 7.2 ± 4.4 ppm, p-value < 0.001. The %PEFR also significantly increased from 84.2 ± 19.4 to 89.5 ± 19.5, p-value < 0.001. In conclusion, Thai community pharmacy smoking cessation services could aid smokers to quit smoking. This study is the outcome of the real-world community pharmacy smoking cessation service; policymakers should consider this service to be included in the national healthcare policy.

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Seasonal variation and change trends for quit smoking: evidence from Internet search engine query data

10.21203/rs.2.19635/v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Fang Wang ◽

Dingtao Hu ◽

Xiaoqi Lou ◽

Nana Meng ◽

Qiaomei Xie ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Time Series ◽

Smoking Cessation ◽

Seasonal Variation ◽

New Zealand ◽

Google Trends ◽

Internet Search ◽

Quit Smoking ◽

Significant Seasonal Variation ◽

The Usa ◽

The Uk

Abstract Background: The outcomes of smoking have generated considerable clinical interest in recent years. Although people from different countries are more interested to the topic of quit smoking during the winter, few studies have tested this hypothesis. The current study aimed to quantify public interest in quit smoking via Google.Methods: We use Google Trends to obtain the Internet search query volume for terms relating to quit smoking for major northern and southern hemisphere countries in this research. Normally search volumes for the term “quit smoking + stop smoking + smoking cessation” were retrieved within the USA, the UK, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia from January 2004 to December 2018. Seasonal effects were investigated using cosinor analysis and seasonal decomposition of time series models.Results: Significant seasonal variation patterns in those search terms were revealed by cosinor analysis and demonstrated by the evidence from Google Trends analysis in the representative countries including the USA (pcos = 2.36×10-7), the UK (pcos < 2.00×10-16), Canada (pcos < 2.00×10-16), Ireland (pcos <2.00×10-16) ,Australia (pcos = 5.13×10-6) and New Zealand (pcos = 4.87×10-7). Time series plots emphasized the consistency of seasonal trends with peaks in winter / late autumn by repeating in nearly all years. The overall trend of search volumes, observed by dynamic series analysis, declined from 2004 to 2018.Conclusions: The preliminary evidence from Google Trends search tool showed a significant seasonal variation and decreasing trend for the RSV of quit smoking. Our novel findings in smoking cessation epidemiology need to be verified with further studies, and the mechanisms underlying these findings must be clarified.

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On the Front Line of Smoking Cessation: Pharmacists' Practices and Self-Perception

Canadian Pharmacists Journal / Revue des Pharmaciens du Canada ◽

10.1177/171516350513800308 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 138 (3) ◽

pp. 32-38 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Joan M. Brewster ◽

Mary Jane Ashley ◽

Claudine Laurier ◽

Rachel Dioso ◽

J. Charles Victor ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Smoking Cessation ◽

Community Pharmacists ◽

Front Line ◽

Patient Counselling ◽

Quit Smoking ◽

Patient Interaction ◽

Quitting Smoking ◽

Knowledge Practice ◽

Canadian Provinces ◽

Brief Advice

Background: Pharmacists can be effective in helping patients to quit smoking, and opportunities for such interaction have been facilitated by legislative change making nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) available without prescription in Canada. However, there are no previous studies of Canadian pharmacists' preparation for, perception of, or practices regarding their roles in smoking cessation. Methods: Practising community pharmacists in four Canadian provinces were surveyed about their tobacco-related education and knowledge, practice environment, perceptions of their roles and practices related to helping people quit smoking, and factors perceived to facilitate tobacco-related practice. Results: A corrected response rate of 72% was obtained, giving a weighted n of 960 responses. Most pharmacists reported good or excellent knowledge of the health effects of smoking and the use of NRT in smoking cessation. Fewer reported being knowledgeable about behavioural approaches to quitting smoking. Advising patients about NRT was seen as a more important role for pharmacists than giving patients pamphlets or behavioural counselling. Pharmacists' reported practices corresponded to their knowledge and judged importance of roles; pharmacists were not proactive in approaching patients about smoking, but when smokers were identified, pharmacists gave brief advice about the use of NRT. Respondents reported that their smoking cessation practice was facilitated by their own knowledge and skills, patients' interest in quitting, opportunities for patient interaction, and the support of pharmacy management for patient counselling. Conclusions: Improving pharmacist education in patient counselling and behavioural approaches to smoking cessation would help to develop skills in initiating discussions about smoking and would give pharmacists a wider range of options to help patients quit smoking.

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Seasonal variation and change trends for quit smoking: evidence from Internet search engine query data

10.21203/rs.2.19635/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Dingtao Hu ◽

Xiaoqi Lou ◽

Nana Meng ◽

Qiaomei Xie ◽

Man Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Time Series ◽

Smoking Cessation ◽

Seasonal Variation ◽

New Zealand ◽

Google Trends ◽

Quit Smoking ◽

Significant Seasonal Variation ◽

Quitting Smoking ◽

The Usa ◽

The Uk

Abstract Background: The outcomes of smoking have generated considerable clinical interest in recent years. Although people from different countries are more interested in the topic of quit smoking during the winter, few studies have tested this hypothesis. The current study aimed to quantify public interest in quitting smoking via Google.Methods: We use Google Trends to obtain the Internet search query volume for terms relating to quit smoking in major northern and southern hemisphere countries in this research. Normally search volumes for the term “quit smoking + stop smoking + smoking-cessation” were retrieved within the USA, the UK, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia from January 2004 to December 2018. Seasonal effects were investigated using cosinor analysis and seasonal decomposition of time series models.Results: Significant seasonal variation patterns in those search terms were revealed by cosinor analysis and demonstrated by the evidence from Google Trends analysis in the representative countries including the USA (pcos = 2.36×10-7), the UK (pcos < 2.00×10-16), Canada (pcos < 2.00×10-16), Ireland (pcos <2.00×10-16) ,Australia (pcos = 5.13×10-6) and New Zealand (pcos = 4.87×10-7). Time series plots emphasized the consistency of seasonal trends with peaks in winter / late autumn by repeating in nearly all years. The overall trend of search volumes for quitting smoking, observed by dynamic series analysis, has declined from 2004 to 2018.Conclusions: The preliminary evidence from Google Trends search tool showed a significant seasonal variation and a decreasing trend for the RSV of quit smoking. Our novel findings in smoking-cessation epidemiology need to be verified with further studies, and the mechanisms underlying these findings must be clarified.

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Experiences of the Pharmacy-Led Weight Management Service: Views of Service Providers in England

Pharmacy ◽

10.3390/pharmacy7030082 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 82

Author(s):

Aliki Peletidi ◽

Reem Kayyali

Keyword(s):

Weight Management ◽

Service Providers ◽

Adult Population ◽

Community Pharmacists ◽

Management Service ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Pharmacy Staff ◽

Work Pressure ◽

The Uk ◽

Training And Support

Obesity constitutes one of the main modifiable risks of developing cardiovascular disease. In the UK, in 2016, 30% of the adult population were obese (30% of females and 29% of males). Community pharmacies are ideally situated to offer weight management (WM) services, enabling individuals to control and lose their excess weight. This study aimed at exploring the views of the pharmacy-led WM service providers in England. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 trained community pharmacists and pharmacy staff—11 (73.3%) from Kent, three (20%) from Kingston and Richmond and one (6.7%) from Hackney and City—offering the WM service, either owning or working in independent pharmacies or for pharmacy chains. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and anonymised. The analysis was conducted using thematic analysis. Three themes emerged: training and support, barriers and approach. Interestingly, service providers (SP) stated that obesity is a tough topic to talk about: they found it difficult to start a conversation about it, even if they had received training to facilitate this role. Additionally, several barriers for running such a service were identified, such as lack of time, too much work pressure and too little advertising, which could potentially lead to poor sustainability of the service. SPs can effectively intervene in an individual’s weight through the WM service that they offer. It is clear that further training should be provided in order for SPs to feel more comfortable in approaching and communicating with people and to increase the public’s awareness of the pharmacy-led WM service, so as to ensure the service’s sustainability.

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Is Weight Gain Inevitable for Patients Trying to Quit Smoking as Part of Cardiac Rehabilitation?

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17228565 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (22) ◽

pp. 8565

Author(s):

Ahmad Salman ◽

Patrick Doherty

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Smoking Cessation ◽

Body Weight ◽

Weight Gain ◽

Cardiac Rehabilitation ◽

Self Report ◽

Routine Practice ◽

Quit Smoking ◽

Quitting Smoking ◽

The Uk

The literature is uncertain about the extent to which those who attend cardiac rehabilitation (CR) gain weight while trying to quit smoking. This study aimed to determine the extent of CR-based smoking cessation provision and whether CR, as delivered in routine practice, is associated with helping patients quit smoking and avoid weight gain. Data from the UK National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation database, between April 2013 and March 2016, were used. Smoking status is categorised as smokers and quitters assessed by patient self-report. Outcomes included body weight, blood pressure, depression, and physical activity. A multiple linear regression model was constructed to understand the effect of continuing smoking or quitting smoking on CR outcomes. CR outcome scores were adjusted by the baseline CR score for each characteristic. An e-survey collected information about the smoking cessation support offered to patients attending CR. A total of 2052 smokers (58.59 ± 10.49 years, 73.6% male) and 1238 quitters (57.63 ± 10.36 years, 75.8% male) were analysed. Overall, 92.6% of CR programmes in the United Kingdom (UK) offer smoking cessation support for CR attenders. Quitting smoking during CR was associated with a mean increase in body weight of 0.4 kg, which is much less than seen in systematic reviews. Quitters who attended CR also had better improvements in physical activity status and psychosocial health measures than smokers. As delivered in routine practice, CR programmes in the UK adhere to the guideline recommendations for smoking cessation interventions, help patients quit smoking, and avoid weight gain on completion of CR.

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Towards a Smart Smoking Cessation App: A 1D-CNN Model Predicting Smoking Events

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s20041099 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (4) ◽

pp. 1099 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Maryam Abo-Tabik ◽

Nicholas Costen ◽

John Darby ◽

Yael Benn

Keyword(s):

Smoking Cessation ◽

Control Theory ◽

External Action ◽

Learning Model ◽

Theory Model ◽

Daily Routine ◽

Major Health Problem ◽

Quit Smoking ◽

Nicotine Level ◽

The Uk

Nicotine consumption is considered a major health problem, where many of those who wish to quit smoking relapse. The problem is that overtime smoking as behaviour is changing into a habit, in which it is connected to internal (e.g., nicotine level, craving) and external (action, time, location) triggers. Smoking cessation apps have proved their efficiency to support smoking who wish to quit smoking. However, still, these applications suffer from several drawbacks, where they are highly relying on the user to initiate the intervention by submitting the factor the causes the urge to smoke. This research describes the creation of a combined Control Theory and deep learning model that can learn the smoker’s daily routine and predict smoking events. The model’s structure combines a Control Theory model of smoking with a 1D-CNN classifier to adapt to individual differences between smokers and predict smoking events based on motion and geolocation values collected using a mobile device. Data were collected from 5 participants in the UK, and analysed and tested on 3 different machine learning model (SVM, Decision tree, and 1D-CNN), 1D-CNN has proved it’s efficiency over the three methods with average overall accuracy 86.6%. The average MSE of forecasting the nicotine level was (0.04) in the weekdays, and (0.03) in the weekends. The model has proved its ability to predict the smoking event accurately when the participant is well engaged with the app.

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