Patients addicted to tobacco are one of the major concerns of up-to-date medicine as constant nicotine intake leads to various disorders and worsens the health state and life quality of the users. Current medicine also tries to target pathologies on the initial stage of their development, more preferably – even before they start. Primary prevention is a desired future of all medical workers, and nurses play a central role in its implementation. Educating patients, spreading the data about the consequences of unwanted habits, supporting, and helping resolve abstinence symptoms are essential nurse practices for the general population’s health.
Nurses use evidence-based sources to implement prevention plans in society to create a safe environment for its inhabitants, improve and maintain the health of individuals, families, and other community groups. This assignment will focus on the assessment of the developed previously health promotion plan regarding smoking or tobacco usage. The paper will also identify the best communication, learning, and teaching interventions with the help of researched literature.
Patient-Centered Health Interventions
Reducing smoking and tobacco usage must be a process consisting of several steps. The primary promotion plan focuses on young adults below 25 years old, and to implement some changes, health care workers should target schools and colleges spreading the data about nicotine effects on the system and organs of the human body. The first step of the promotion plan is developing education sessions for school and college students regarding smoking.
Such health lessons should include the explanation of nicotine effects on the respiratory system, oral and ear pathologies, worsening of asthma attacks, impact on pregnant women and their fetuses (Healthy People 2030, 2020). Teaching lessons must be in-class format, for all students in the class, and interpersonal meetings with families and health care providers about risks of smoking and approaches to prevent smoking addiction (Duncan et al., 2018).
An in-depth explanation of the constant tobacco intake consequences will broadcast knowledge of young adults, help them understand better the processes happening in human bodies, and the negative long-term effects. This step of prevention plan has to be an ongoing practice to educate the young population and has to be implemented in 3 months. The education lessons should take 5% of the school curriculum to create closer and trustworthy relationships with healthcare workers.
Another essential step in the prevention plan is developing programs for cessation treatment at the hospitals and maintaining easy access to it for all smokers. According to the data provided by Ramsey et al. (2019), patient interest in quitting smoking does not correlate to the number of hospital-based treatments. The latter illuminates the issue of poor spread via media about available programs and treatment opportunities to the population. Allowing smoking patients to receive health aid in both governmental and private chains can enhance the care outcomes by providing constant observation, help on the withdrawal stage, support, help, and motivation by medical workers. Within one year of concentrated work, it should be possible to implement programs in the hospitals.
The other essential aspect of the promotion plan is the implementation of socio-economic changes in the community. In the United States, there is no current rules prohibiting smoking in public areas and working locations. However, some positive changes have been made in 2019, after amending the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by increasing the threshold age for purchasing tobacco items from 18 to 21 years (FDA Food & Drug Administration, 2021).
Increasing prices on tobacco-containing products, developing smoke-free policies, controlling access to tobacco products, shortening the advertisements popularizing smoking will create better social protection and prevent young adults from being attracted to nicotine-containing items (Healthy People 2030, 2020). Implementing control of the information spread showed promising outcomes on young adults regarding smoking behavior and motivation to quit (Villanti et al., 2020). Government participation is vital for community health problem-solving, and only with its help, it is possible to reach sustainable outcomes. The periods of this step implementation depend on authorities and organizations regulating laws and should take approximately 6 months.
Practical Effects and Health Policy Implications
The proposed solutions will lead to promising practical effects such as better academic performance of young adults, preventing development of smoking-associated pathologies, and protecting vulnerable groups of population (pregnant women, patients with asthma). Health policy implications for the coordination and continuum of care focus on the legislation changes and simplifying the treatment programs for smokers at the hospitals. Described abode changes are essential for implementation as they will solve a substantial part of the current issue and enhance the health of the population.
Addressing Health Care Issues
Smoking-related health problems involve chronic obstructive lung disease, lung cancer development, and exacerbation of asthma symptoms. Chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) is a predictable disorder following every smoker manifesting with coughing, wheezing, excessing sputum, and having breath shortage. Lung cancer develops after several years of smoking among people with a predisposition, and the most complicated issue about lung cancer treatment is its poor prognosis. Asthma attacks worsen after breathing in smoke or on the background of a smoking habit. Patients having atopy in family history are predisposed to developing asthma after smoking initiation. Thus, fighting the provocative and triggering factor such as smoking, it is possible to reduce the severity and spread of these pathologies.
Regarding COPD, all three steps of the prevention plan are relevant to issue solving: spreading the consequences of smoking including COPD among the young population at schools and colleges, highlighting the risks and life quality impacts the disorder brings in people’s lives, focusing mostly on quitting smoking programs instead of treating COPD symptoms severity that tends to come back. Cutting the advertisements, increasing process on cigarettes and tobacco-containing products so people of low socioeconomic status struggle to afford to smoke. Talking about lung cancer, it is essential to put extra stress in education on difficulties with its treatment and poor prognosis of the patients. Clarifying students of cancer development and fast metastasizing can clear the picture of smoking effects on the human body.
From the perspective of health care facilities, it is significant to implement yearly testing (X-Ray or CT-scan) for smokers as a part of the prevention plan. Identifying lung cancer in early stages can enhance prognosis and life duration.
Patients predisposal for atopy or having asthma should be involved in teaching practices as refraining from such unwanted habits is vital for them. Active and passive smokers can have more frequent attacks and as a result worse health conditions. Nurse communication with atopic patients should contain the explanation of oxygenation lack in their situation and its deterioration by smoking. Patients with severe asthma must learn to monitor the existence of smoking in their life, both active and passive as the latter can substantially worsen their quality of life. Community resources needed for successful health interventions are communication resources that are relevant to all three health issues.
Via education and interaction, it is possible to build a strong and trustful relationship with the young population and impact their perception of smoking. Family support and school services in this case can help health care providers to spread the ideas of unhealthiness and risk factors. Screening methods implemented by authorities are relevant to effective lung cancer prevention identifying patients under the risk. Advertising a healthy lifestyle can promote the image of a fit body in society and orient it away from unwanted habits. Communicating and teaching patients with asthma to avoid smoking as it may be the trigger of the attack is essential for these patients’ health. For these people, it is also central to be protected from smoking in public areas which can be done by regulating law by authorities.
Ethical Issues
The major ethical principles the current promotion plan targets are making access to health aid better and focusing on the long-term results regarding community health state. Additionally, the plan promotes rules and gives advice that will not harm the patient (principle of beneficence), respects the right of the patient to make decisions about his health (principle of autonomy). It is essential to explain and educate the patient using appropriate behavior models in the framework of the issue. However, every person has a right to make a decision, to judge himself and the condition of his health. A health care worker cannot judge the patient or push him to make choices, every step of education aims to explain and promote the advantages of a healthy lifestyle.
Priorities
Thus, this health promotion plan focuses on reducing smoking among young adults under 25 years. The priorities for a care coordinator while discussing with the patient the outcomes are gradual refusing from smoking, monitoring abstinent symptoms, supporting motivation on the way of quitting. Creating non-smoking surroundings if one of the family members smokes is also significant for the patient to avoid cravings behavior. Health policy provisions should include law, advertisement, and prices regulation regarding tobacco products. Such changes can create a continuum of care and a multifunctional approach to the issue.
References
Duncan, L. R., Pearson, E. S., & Maddison, R. (2018). Smoking prevention in children and adolescents: A systematic review of individualized interventions. Patient education and counseling, 101(3), 375-388. Web.
FDA Food & Drug Administration. (2021). Tobacco 21. Web.
Healthy People 2030. (2020). Tobacco Use. Web.
Ramsey, A. T., Prentice, D., Ballard, E., Chen, L.-S., & Bierut, L. J. (2019). Leverage points to improve smoking cessation treatment in a large tertiary care hospital: A systems-based mixed methods study. BMJ Open, 9(7), e030066. Web.
Villanti, A. C., West, J. C., Klemperer, E. M., Graham, A. L., Mays, D., Mermelstein, R. J., & Higgins, S. T. (2020). Smoking-Cessation interventions for US young adults: Updated systematic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 59(1), 123-136. Web.