Comparison of referral methods into a smoking cessation program.
Abstract
Rational, aims & objectives: The goal of this observational study was to compare three
referral methods and determine which led to the highest utilization of the Duke Smoking
Cessation Program (DSCP). Materials & methods: We conducted two assessments within
the Duke health system: a 12-month assessment of Traditional Referral (a provider
refers a patient during a patient visit) and Best Practice Advisory (BPA) (a provider
refers a patient after responding to an alert within the electronic health record);
and a 30-day assessment of Population Outreach (a list of smokers is generated through
the electronic health record and patients are contacted directly). Results: Over the
12-month assessment, a total of 13,586 smokers were seen throughout health system
clinics receiving services from the DSCP. During this period, the service utilization
rate was significantly higher for Traditional Referral (3.8%) than for BPA (0.6%);
p < 0.005. The 30-day pilot assessment of showed a service utilization rate for Population
Outreach of 6.3%, significantly higher than Traditional Referral (3.8%); p < 0.005
and BPA (0.6%; p < 0.005). Conclusion: Population Outreach appears to be an effective
referral method for increasing utilization of the DSCP.
Type
Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21388Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.2217/cer-2020-0004Publication Info
Davis, James M; Thomas, Leah C; Dirkes, Jillian Eh; Datta, Santanu K; & Dennis, Paul
A (2020). Comparison of referral methods into a smoking cessation program. Journal of comparative effectiveness research. 10.2217/cer-2020-0004. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21388.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
James Davis
Associate Professor of Medicine
Dr. James Davis is a practicing physician of Internal Medicine, and serves as the
Medical Director for Duke Center for Smoking Cessation, Director of the Duke Smoking
Cessation Program and Co-Director of the Duke-UNC Tobacco Treatment Specialist Credentialing
Program. His research focuses on development of new pharmaceutical treatments for
smoking cessation. He is principal investigator on several trials including a study
on “adaptive” smoking cessation and several trials
Paul Anthony Dennis
Associate Professor in Population Health Sciences
Developmental psychologist, statistician, and data scientist. Research focused on
cardiovascular risk associated with psychiatric illness and trauma exposure, intraindivdiual
variability in symptoms and affect, and the use of mobile apps and devices for health
and behavior monitoring and interventions. Interest in longitudinal and repeated-measures
analyses, mediation analyses, machine learning, and applications to administrative
healthcare data.
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