Smoking cessation in cancer care in Quebec
Helping patients with cancer to quit smoking
Quebec Cancer Program
- The Ministry of Health and Social Services’ Quebec Cancer Program has identified smoking cessation for patients with cancer as one of its priorities.
- Smoking cessation support is offered to outpatients in several cancer centres in Quebec. Patients are referred to smoking cessation resources, including one-on-one and group programs, Quit Smoking Centres and the telephone quitline (J’ARRÊTE).
- Seniors, individuals receiving social assistance and individuals without private health insurance are eligible for 12 weeks of free quit smoking medications each year, including nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) or prescription medications.
COVID-19 response: Dedicated staff time has been made available so that the Smoking Cessation Treatment in Cancer Care project can be implemented, even with staff redeployments due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cancer patients’ access to smoking cessation support
In 2020, 22 of the 30 cancer centres in Quebec offered outpatients a referral to a community resource to quit smoking, with five of the centres offering a comprehensive smoking cessation program. Culturally appropriate supports for patients with cancer from Indigenous communities were available in three of the five programs.
Partnership-funded project – Smoking cessation treatment 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 subsidized varenicline, bupropion and/or NRT | Silver |
Person-Centered | Assessing availability of patient representative to participate in program planning | Pre-implementation |
Culturally Competent | Working to develop cultural competency training materials for untrained staff | Pre-implementation |
Partnership | Works with a multi-disciplinary team and community partners | Silver |
Indicator Measurement and Reporting | Developing tools and infrastructure to track program performance and collect data | Pre-implementation |
*Overall evaluation based on a survey of cancer centres in March 2021.
Downloadable content
Smoking cessation action framework implementation checklist
File size 95 KB