The conventional wisdom is that the most successful treatments for tobacco dependence use a combination of available pharmcotherapy and support both inside and outside of your office. In the year 2000, the Department of Health and Human Services published "Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: A Quick Reference Guide for Clinicians", summarizing all available research to underscore this point.

The problem in most medical practices is that the counseling component is frequently overlooked. It is easy to write a prescription for medication, but it is hard to find the time to provide the necessary counseling... especially since reimbursement for such services is poor at best.

The result is that most physicians do not help their patients achieve abstinence. This can be very frustrating, and, more often than not, it leads to a lack of effort on the part of physcians.

The Quit Doc Smoking Treatment Network bridges that gap. The majority of the counseling component is handled by a central network. There are pre-treatment materials, treatment day materials, and post treatment follow-up and counseling. The physicians evaluate and treat the patients in their office; the physicians also check on the patients the day after the appointment. Most physicians can easily see 3-5 patients an hour.

The key components of this approach include:

• Quit Date: The office visit gives the patient a defined quit date, a key component to a successful quit attempt!
• Preparation: The homework, completed during the week before the appointment, helps to prepare patients for what to expect. This maximizes the chances for success during the quit attempt.
• Expertise: The Network physicians become local experts in nicotine addiction and treatment of tobacco dependence. The patients benefit from hearing information from an expert!
• Focused Treatment: The Quit Doc program is a program dedicated to treating tobacco dependence. The patients understand that this is the focus of the visit... that the discussion of tobacco use is not an after-thought, but the only thought!
• Medical Treatment: The use of anti-cholinergic medications by injection to block withdraw symptoms gives the patients the opportunity to focus on changing habits and improving stress management; habits and stress are generally the reasons for a failed quit attempt!
• Encouraging words: The Network physicians learn not to be judgemental; they understand how difficult it can be to overcome addiction. This is especially important if a patient has a set-back. The patients are willing to come back for help if they know they will not hear a lecture, but the voice of a concerned physician who wants to help them succeed.
• Convenient Support: Through the use of toll-free telephone numbers, group conference calls, and internet message boards, the patients have convenient access to physicians and counselors. There are also a number of follow-up calls made to the patients, especially early in their treatment. Again, this support is handled by the Quit Doc corporate office, not the individual network physicians.
• Patient Involvement: Many of our patients offer their services to other patients after they have sucessfully quit. At this time, we encourage them to call into the group conference calls and share their experiences; we are also looking for other ways for them to volunteer.

A Quit Doc Network Physician, working three hours each week, can treat 12-15 patients for tobacco dependence. That means 6-8 smokers each week will remain smoke free at the end of one year... somewhere between 300 and 400 patients each year! Since half of all smokers die early from a tobacco-related illness, one network physician can prevent 150-200 premature deaths each year! What else can you do in your medical practice that has such a definitive impact?

Back