New briefing advice for use of e-cigarettes
A new briefing which gives advice on how to support people who want to use electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) to help them to quit, has been published by the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT).
The document, produced in partnership with Public Health England, states that e-cigarettes are considerably safer than smoking cigarettes, are popular with smokers and that they have a role to play in reducing smoking rates.
It provides useful information on the background of e-cigarettes; details about the forthcoming regulation of e-cigarettes later this year; and guidance to healthcare professionals on how to be e-cigarette friendly and on how to integrate e-cigarettes into other quitting support activities
The NCSCT says an e-cigarette-friendly service supports clients who want to use e-cigarettes to help them stop smoking and reaches out to smokers, considering using an e-cigarette, to come to the service for behavioural support.
Tips on being e-cigarette friendly include:
- Don’t be anxious about not being an expert about e-cigarettes: what you do know is how to help people stop smoking.
- Familiarise yourself with e-cigarettes.
- Be positive when speaking about e-cigarettes.
- Don’t push people to come off their e-cigarette.
Recommendations for practice include:
- Be open to e-cigarette use in people keen to try them; especially in those who have tried and failed to stop smoking using licensed stop smoking medicinesProvide advice on e-cigarettes that includes:
- E-cigarettes provide nicotine in a form that is much safer than smoking.Some people find e-cigarettes helpful for quitting, cutting down their nicotine intake and/or managing temporary abstinence.Although some health risks from e-cigarette use may yet emerge, these are likely, at worst, to be a small fraction of the risks of smoking.Behavioural support will improve the chances of a client successfully stopping smoking whether or not they use e-cigarettes.
- E-cigarettes and NRT (nicotine replacement therapy) can be safely used together to stop smoking.
PCRS-UK recommends the use of e-cigarettes which have been approved by the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency), rather than those which have not been through their scrutiny and approval processes, however the two products which have been approved, have not yet been launched. For the time being, we believe the evidence points to all e-cigarettes being less harmful than tobacco, and therefore the use of any e-cigarette should be encouraged.
Action points:
- Download Electronic cigarettes: A briefing for stop smoking services at http://www.ncsct.co.uk/publication_electronic_cigarette_briefing.php
- Familiarise yourself with the briefing in time for No Smoking Day on March 9 when publicity may prompt patients to ask you about using e-cigarettes to stop smoking
- Update yourself on the evidence based methods of helping patients to quit by downloading the PCRS-UK smoking cessation resources at https://www.pcrs-uk.org/smoking-cessation
- Read the PCRS-UK position on e-cigarettes here: https://www.pcrs-uk.org/sites/pcrs-uk.org/files/files/PositionStatementECigsSept2015.pdf
- Read this new study which claims up to 22,000 smokers in England used e-cigarettes to help them to quit smoking in 2014 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.13343/abstract
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