Helping smokers quit may be the best thing that doctors can do for their patients’ health given the prevalence of tobacco-use-related deaths. Despite this, many doctors and health care professionals are uncomfortable helping their patients quit smoking. In my job as a Quit Coach, I hear many times a day that doctors recommend quitting, but very rarely do I hear accounts of personal guidance or assistance from health care professionals.

According to a recent article, health care professionals often don’t broach the subject of quitting because they feel a sense of hopelessness, don’t feel like it’s their job, or don’t know what resources are available for quitting smoking. An article published in JAMA in 2005 reports that many health care professionals are also discouraged by questions about billing for tobacco cessation services and/or don’t want to intrude into patients’ personal lives.

Fortunately, programs like the Tobacco Cessation Resource Center (TCRC) in Washington State and the Center for Tobacco Independence in Maine are helping health care professionals become more comfortable talking with their patients about quitting. Through such programs, health care professionals are encouraged to use brief intervention techniques such as assessing patients’ motivation to quit, expressing empathy, and offering resources like state quitline phone numbers.

This week, I saw the impact of such help on two different participants that I spoke with on the phone. One participant was referred to the quitline by a pharmacist at a hospital he visited. The other was told about our program by her respiratory therapist. The interactions that these participants described to me were notable for several reasons. The first was that both participants reported that they were highly motivated by the health care professional that had taken the time to talk with them about quitting. Secondly, they reported feeling understood rather than reprimanded for smoking. What I found most unusual was that right off the bat, both participants seemed very trusting of the coaching process. They spoke of the people who volunteered information to them by first name and I got the sense that the personal nature of those referrals helped them to trust our program and our recommendations. As a Quit Coach, I felt welcomed into a developing circle of support.

I wish I could personally thank the pharmacist and the respiratory therapist who made an effort to help their patient accomplish something that can often seem overwhelming and daunting. I ended those calls with a sense that I was working as part of a team. That was very powerful for me, and I believe for the participants as well. I have no doubt that these health care professionals made a huge difference in the lives of two of their patients and probably many more.