Ask Advise Connect (AAC) Harris Heath CPRIT

Smokers who enroll in treatment receive standard counseling protocol offered by the Quitline. This includes up to five proactive telephone counseling calls, each designed to provide practical expert support to help smokers develop problem-solving and coping skills, secure social support, and design a plan for successful cessation and long-term abstinence.

Six months after enrolling in treatment with the Texas Quitline, an MD Anderson research team member will contact patients to assess their smoking status via telephone.

Medical staff (i.e., medical assistants, licensed vocational nurses, registered nurse and physicians) receive initial face-to-face group training on how to ask patients about their smoking status, advise them to quit, and connect them with the Quitline. The specific content of the session will include information on quitting smoking, how to implement AAC, the effectiveness of telephone counseling for smoking cessation delivered via quitlines, and pharmacotherapies including nicotine replacement.

MD Anderson staff conduct individual in-depth interviews with administrative leadership as well as those medical staff who are authorized to enter patient information into the EMR and are trained in the Ask-Advise-Connect approach. All in-depth interviews will be recorded and transcribed.