Smoking cessation in cancer care in Northwest Territories
Helping patients with cancer to quit smoking
Government of Northwest Territories
- Most patients requiring cancer care in Northwest Territories go to the Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife and/or the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, Alberta.
- At Stanton Territorial Hospital, patients with cancer are asked about their tobacco use at regular intervals, using a patient survey. Patients who want to reduce their tobacco use can receive a prescription for a smoking cessation medication and information about the NWT Quitline.
- The hospital is developing a more formal approach to supporting patients with cancer to quit smoking, including coordinating smoking cessation care between cancer care settings.
- Clients registered with the federal Non-Insured Health Benefits Program (NIHB) are eligible to receive free smoking cessation medications; residents not covered under NIHB can receive free smoking cessation medications through the Extended Health Benefits Program.
COVID-19 response: The Partnership-funded project to integrate tobacco cessation in cancer care was temporarily stopped in March 2020 due to staff redeployments to respond to the pandemic.
Cancer patients’ access to smoking cessation support
In 2020, Stanton Territorial Hospital was working to increase the accessibility of smoking cessation supports to patients with cancer.
Partnership-funded project – Integrating smoking cessation in cancer care
Overall smoking cessation in cancer care implementation level: Bronze
Category | Implementation criteria met | Level |
---|---|---|
Behavioural Counselling | Working towards implementing a 3A (Ask, Advise, Act) or 5A (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange) model | Pre-implementation |
Pharmacotherapy | Offers free varenicline, bupropion and/or nicotine replacement therapy | Gold |
Person-Centered | Assessing the availability of a patient representative to participate in program planning | Pre-implementation |
Culturally Competent | Offers staff cultural competency training and patient resources | Silver |
Partnership | Determining the availability of smoking treatment expertise | Pre-implementation |
Indicator Measurement and Reporting | Developing tools and infrastructure to track program performance and collect data | Pre-implementation |
Downloadable content
Smoking cessation action framework implementation checklist
File size 95 KB