Health care experts from several organizations are working together to improve the rate of smoking cessation intervention methods by health care providers treating trauma patients in the emergency department and in the inpatient trauma service.

Representatives from ACEP, the Orthopedic Trauma Association, the American College of Surgeons, the Emergency Nurses Association and the Society of Emergency Medicine Physician Assistants contributed to the study design. Investigators from MetroHealth Medical Center, Yale University School of Medicine, Denver Health, University of Texas, University of Pennsylvania, Emory School of Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University and University of Missouri are leading the effort to conduct trial research at eight trauma centers around the country.

The project encourages brief intervention during the emergency department visit or in the hospital for patients requiring admission. It consists of two components, the development of a didactic curriculum directed specifically at providers of care for trauma patients and the use of wallet cards containing the telephone number of the National Smokers’ Quitline.

Funded by the Pfizer Medical Education Group (Pfizer also markets smoking cessation aids) and the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center of the University of San Francisco, the project builds on previous work by an ACEP task force that found emergency department intervention can be effective in smoking cessation.