All dentists and hygienists will receive this same information in 1999. One dentist who attended the training reports learning a more successful approach, and as a result has seen an increase in his ability to impact clients' decisions to quit smoking. This improvement motivated the provider to continue giving cessation messages to his other clients. At non-medical clinics, participation in the tobacco cessation program is the responsibility of all dental office staff. Kaiser clinicians have the knowledge, training, and resources to ask, advise, assist and arrange cessation services for patients who use tobacco.
Clients receive educational information through the dental offices and by mail.
Internal and external resources have been developed for clients. External cessation resources have been particularly helpful for members who have medical coverage through other insurers. Data information is reported quarterly to the QA Committee and also given to the individual provider and to the management team. Individual comparison is made against the corporate standard. In the future, the hope is to implement an electronic data record to improve the quality of the data and the ease with which it can be gathered.