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What is a Tobacco Treatment Specialist?

Dr_Hays
Mayo Clinic
3 2 253

People who are trying to stop smoking are all too frequently bombarded by confusing information about what works for helping people become tobacco free.  Cream of tartar, quit smoking magic, aromatherapy, essential oils, hypnosis, laser therapy, nicotine replacement, non-nicotine quit smoking medications, and e-cigarettes, are just a few of the myriad of choices that can be found from a web search.

 

The bottom line is stopping smoking. People can and do stop in a variety of ways.  However, as a health care practitioner my goal is to help our patients in ways that are most likely to be effective.  Fortunately, we have as much evidence for what helps people become tobacco free as we do for other chronic health problems like diabetes and hypertension, and more-so than we do for many other addictive disorders. The scientific evidence supports that a combination of counseling, peer support, FDA approved medications, and strategies to manage cues to smoke and to maintain motivation all work to significantly improve quit rates. 

 

At the risk of providing too much information, Tobacco Treatment Specialist are professionals who have been trained to provide evidence-based treatment for tobacco dependence.  Currently there are almost 20 schools that have been accredited to provide this type of training, and there is a new national certification just coming on-line.  If this description of Tobacco Treatment Specialists is TMI,  please just ignore. For those who are interested you can find more information about Tobacco Treatment Specialty at ATTUD-Association for the Treatment of Tobacco Use and Dependence 

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About the Author
An expert in tobacco use and dependence, Dr. Hays has authored and co-authored over 70 peer-reviewed scholarly articles and book chapters on various aspects tobacco dependence and its treatment. Since joining the Nicotine Dependence Center in 1992, he and its staff have treated more than 50,000 patients for tobacco dependence.