Smoking Cessation Resources
Source: American Lung Association
A Timeline of the Benefits to Cardiovascular Health after Quitting
- 20 minutes: your blood pressure and pulse rate decrease, and the body temperature of your hands and feet increase.
- 8 hours: the carbon monoxide level in your blood decreases to normal and your blood oxygen levels increase back to normal.
- 24 hours: your risk of having a heart attack decreases.
- 48 hours: nerve endings start to re-grow and the ability to smell and taste is enhanced.
- Between 2 weeks and 3 months: your circulation improves
- 1 year: risk of coronary heart disease and heart attack is reduced to half that of a smoker.
- Between 5 and 15 years after quitting, your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.
- In 15 years your risk of coronary heart disease and heart attack in similar to that of people who have never smoked.
A short, 5 minute animation about the effects of smoking on the body including cardiovascular, respiratory, and other organs.
Quitline NC
- We are open from 8:00 a.m. until 3 a.m., seven days a week.
- Our services are available to all North Carolinians, youth and adult.
- Our expert Tobacco Quit Coaches can call you back upon request.
- English, Spanish and other languages available.
- All calls are free and confidential.
Visit Quilinenc.com or call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) to talk to your quit coach today.
A short animation about smoking cessation including why it is hard to quit, how to prepare to quit, and tips/tools for quitting.
Smoking Cessation Education Materials
- Pathways to Freedom: Winning the Fight Against Tobacco (Center for Disease Control and Prevention)
- How Can I Quit Smoking (American Heart Association)
- Minute to Ask: Clinician referral to Quitline (Health and Wellness Trust Fund)
- Minute to Ask (American Stroke Association/American Heart Association)
Practitioner Guidelines
- The 5 A's
- Ask-Identify and document tobacco use status for every patient at every visit.
- Advise-In a clear, strong, and personalized manner, urge every tobacco user to quit.
- Assess-Is the tobacco user willing to make a quit attempt at this time?
- Assist-For the patient willing to make a quit attempt, use counseling and pharmacotherapy to help him or her quit.
- Arrange-Schedule follow-up contact, in person or by telephone, preferably within the first week after the quit date.
- Motivational Interviewing: the 5 R's (American Stroke Association/American Heart Association)
- A Practical Guide to Working with Health-Care Systems on Tobacco-Use Treatment (Center for Disease Control and Prevention)
- How-To Guide for Treating Patients Who Use Tobacco (University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention)
- Quick Reference Guide for Clinicians (2008 Update): Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence (US Department of Health and Human Service)
- Helping Patients who Relapse (University of Southern California)
- Tobacco Cessation Webinars on Hospital Intervention, Dental Scenarios, Physicians Scenarios, Motivational Interviewing, and Pharmacy (University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention)
- Pharmacological Product Guide: FDA-Approved (American Academy of Family Physicians)
Federal Medicaid matching funds for Quitline services
Excerpt..."Nearly 35 percent of Medicaid enrollees smoke, compared to 20.6 percent of the adult population as a whole. Medicaid coverage of tobacco cessation quitlines and services will help more tobacco users quit, and reduce the death, disease and health care costs resulting from tobacco use. The Administration announced that it will allow states to get federal Medicaid matching funds for the cost of telephone quitline services provided to Medicaid beneficiaries."
For more information, please see the entire policy statement.
Community Smoking Cessation Resources
- The Community Guide: What works to promote health-Tobacco (CDC, The Community Guide Branch)
- NC Tobacco and Control Branch (NC Division of Public Health)
- NC Tobacco and Control Branch Resources (NC Division of Public Health)
- Quit Now Workbook and Resources (Eat Smart Move More: NC Division of Public Health)
- Chronic Disease and Injury Section (NC Division of Public Health)
- Best Practices: for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs (Center for Disease Control and Prevention)