Nurse led smoking cessation intervention to reduce postoperative complications

Background: Research studies show smokers are more likely to suffer from complications after surgery. These preventable events cost the nation approximately $17 billion a year and impact both the health of the community and the finances of healthcare systems. Purpose: To determine the effect of a nurse-led smoking cessation intervention in the preoperative setting on reducing both postoperative complications and healthcare costs due to smoking. Method: This was a prospective cohort study to include smokers undergoing a surgical procedure. The participants received a brief smoking cessation education intervention in a preoperative clinic given by a nurse, describing the benefits of smoking cessation and the risks smoking presents for surgical recovery. Evaluation: All data was cleaned and coded. Patients lost to follow up or with missing data elements were not included. The intervention cohort postoperative complication data results were compared to postoperative complication rates in a historical cohort before implementation of the smoking cessation intervention. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the baseline characteristics of the cohorts. The chi-square test was calculated to analyze the association between the categorical data. Results: The sample size of 100 participants meeting the inclusion criteria was reached. 22% of participants quit smoking and 47% reduced the number of cigarettes they smoked preoperatively. Chi-square results comparing postoperative complication rates between the interventional and historical cohorts was not statistically significant with a p-value of 0.08 and resulted in a null hypothesis. The comparison between combined quit/reduced smoking participants with those continuing to smoke within the interventional group was statistically significant for reduced postoperative complications with a p-value<0.05. Conclusion: The results concluded a smoking cessation intervention before surgery reduced postoperative complications and healthcare costs for this hospital in the intervention group. Preoperative patient education should reinforce smoking cessation to optimize postoperative outcomes.