Rapid implementation of a smokers' quitline fax referral service in an urban area

Abstract

Purpose: To increase use of fax referral services to a state smokers' quitline.

Design: Program evaluation.

Setting: A populous urban county.

Subjects: Smokers older than 17 years.

Intervention: In January 2005, a state-funded smoking cessation center began to offer training and technical assistance to clinical sites to expand tobacco control services.

Measures: Proportion of each county's smokers referred to quitline.

Results: Prior to program onset, only one Bronx provider had made a fax referral to the quitline. In 2006, 943 fax referrals were made, representing 0.5% of all smokers in the county. This was a higher proportion than any other state county with an adult population exceeding 250,000. Bronx smokers are 2.47 times more likely to be fax-referred to the quitline than other smokers in New York.

Conclusion: A program consisting of training and technical assistance, and emphasizing systems change, can markedly increase providers' use of quitline referral services.