Capella 4900 Assessment 2 Assessing the Problem Quality Safety and Cost Considerations

Name

Capella university

NURS-FPX 4900 Capstone project for Nursing

Prof. Name

Date

Assessing the Problem: Quality, Safety, and Cost Considerations

This paper discusses smoking cessation from quality, safety, and cost perspectives among a group of boys suffering from the consequences of long-term tobacco use at California Hospital Medical Center. The group of boys was eager to quit their smoking addiction and improve their health outcomes. Therefore, I aim to explore how smoking tobacco affects the care quality, the safety of patients, and financial implications for individuals and the system. The assessment also delves into policies and strategies that impact quality, cost, and safety considerations.

Tobacco Use and Smoking Cessation Impact on Quality, Safety, and Costs

Tobacco use in the form of smoking and other products is a significant community health problem that is affecting a vast population, particularly the young generation. This problem is a significant health threat to the development of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and other lethal ailments like cancers (Siddiqi et al., 2020). 

The higher incidence of smoking and a reduced frequency of smoking cessation plans lead to a higher burden of these diseases (Siddiqi et al., 2020). This requires extensive and complex care treatments to manage these diseases and chronic conditions, impacting the overall quality of care. Furthermore, smokers present complex health status due to higher risks of diseases associated with tobacco use (Cornelius, 2022). The incidence of high blood pressure, respiratory problems, chronic cough, and lung cancer. This complexity of the health profile makes it challenging for healthcare professionals to deliver optimal, streamlined care. This results in poor quality of care for smokers and increases further health risks (Elton-Marshall et al., 2020).

Capella 4900 Assessment 2 Assessing the Problem Quality Safety and Cost Considerations

Smoking tobacco also impacts patient safety due to the risks of developing lethal diseases like cancer and requiring surgical procedures for treatment. The dangerous compounds in smoking affect wound healing and increase the risk of infections and other adverse outcomes. This threatens patient safety during medical treatments (Alqahtani et al., 2020). Additionally, exposure to secondhand smoke impacts patient safety in healthcare settings, and non-smokers experience respiratory problems, exacerbations of pre-existing conditions, and enhanced susceptibility to infections. This ultimately impacts the patient safety of non-smokers (CDC, 2019). 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the healthcare systems incur a considerable amount of costs in treating diseases related to tobacco use (greater than $600 billion). These costs are relevant to hospitalization medical and surgical interventions (exceeding $240 billion) (CDC, 2022). Moreover, integrating smoking cessation programs has upfront costs but can be cost-effective in the long run (Farsalinos et al., 2020). By promoting smoking cessation, patients can recover from the harms of tobacco use and smoking-related diseases, leading to lower healthcare costs (Ugalde et al., 2021).

Capella 4900 Assessment 2 Assessing the Problem Quality Safety and Cost Considerations

Tobacco use also increases the financial burden on individuals due to the cost of medications and frequent hospitalization. Moreover, the long-term use of tobacco products affects the quality of life, which leads to low productivity and social isolation, contributing to personal costs ($180 billion) ((CDC, 2022; John et al., 2020). The supportive evidence is consistent with my nursing practice, and tobacco users endure poor care quality, reduced safety among patients, and higher costs. 

Nursing Practice Standards and Organizational/ Governmental Policies

The American Nurses Association (ANA) has provided standard practices for nurses on smoking cessation and prevention by guiding nurses on how to engage with smokers and providing tailored interventions such as implementing the five A’s (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange) strategy (ANA, 2020). Moreover, ANA guides nurses in developing cessation treatment plans considering each patient’s physical, emotional, social, and vocational needs. These practices enhance the quality of care for smokers. ANA also advocates for combining pharmacotherapy and behavioral and counseling support when required. This leads to providing holistic care for smoking cessation, improving the quality of care and patient safety (ANA, 2020).

The American Lung Association (ALA) improves patient safety among smokers by devising policies on increasing federal cigarette tax to reduce the purchasing of cigarettes. This will enable people to avoid tobacco use and enhance patient safety as they will not engage in the addictive habits of smoking tobacco. Ultimately, the consequences of tobacco use will be prevented, and patient safety will be enhanced (ALA, 2022). The Affordable Care Act provides policy provisions that cover health insurance for smoking cessation programs and permit individuals of low-income backgrounds and the elderly to acquire these programs for free.

Capella 4900 Assessment 2 Assessing the Problem Quality Safety and Cost Considerations

This leads to reduced costs inflicted upon tobacco users for enrolling and attaining smoking cessation programs and treatment plans (American Lung Association, 2022). These practice standards and policies facilitate me in improving my scope of practice in nursing. By following ANA guidelines, I will be attentively implementing tobacco use cessation programs and interventions and delivering high-quality care. This will increase patient safety by improving smoking cessation. The ACA policies help me reduce the cost burden on individuals and communities of smoking cessation, and more people can join tobacco cessation plans (American Lung Association, 2022). 

Strategies to Address Smoking Cessation and Improve Safety, Quality, and Reduce Costs

Various evidence-based strategies can be adopted to promote smoking cessation and facilitate patients engaged in chronic use of tobacco. One such widely implemented practice is to develop and adopt comprehensive smoking cessation programs that consider behavioral and counseling support and the use of pharmacotherapy. The use of nicotine replacement therapy can be advocated as a smoking cessation aid. Smoking cessation interventions such as using text messages for reminders and sustained quitting-and-win competition will improve the quality of care and patient safety (Villanti et al., 2020). Moreover, this strategy reduces the costs incurred by patients and healthcare organizations due to adverse health implications such as cardiovascular diseases and lung cancer. These conditions require heavy finances to treat and manage long-term (Villanti et al., 2020).

Leveraging telehealth platforms to deliver smoking cessation behavioral therapy and counseling sessions is fruitful for smokers who are facing barriers to in-person care. Mobile apps and online resources can be additional tools that educate smokers on the harm and consequences of smoking and help in smoking cessation (Haluza et al., 2020). Delivering supportive care, such as mindfulness-based smoking cessation strategies through these platforms, improves the quality of care with remote monitoring and enhances patient safety by sustained quitting. This strategy also reduces costs associated with traveling to hospitals and acquiring in-person smoking cessation support from professionals (Spears et al., 2022).

Capella 4900 Assessment 2 Assessing the Problem Quality Safety and Cost Considerations

The use of social media platforms such as Whatsapp, Facebook, and websites to promote smoking cessation has also been valuable. The smokers receive supportive care and behavioral therapy via these platforms and daily motivation to stay consistent in the cessation journey (Luo et al., 2020). Another strategy to promote smoking cessation among tobacco users is to deliver socioeconomic position customized to the individual level behavioral practices (Kock et al., 2019). Through patient-centered cessation plans, the smokers were able to quit smoking as the quality of care was improved. Consequently, patient safety is enhanced as patients prevent themselves from the dangerous health implications of smoking (Kock et al., 2019). 

The effectiveness of these practices and interventions can be estimated by the substantial results described in the research article. Furthermore, these interventions are effective in patients with smoking habits as they are tailored to their needs and health requirements (Kock et al., 2019). The available sources of benchmarks related to tobacco cessation include WHO guidelines on tobacco cessation intervention in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCOC) (WHO, n.d.). Furthermore, the CDC Smoking and Tobacco Use provides best practices for comprehensive tobacco control programs, which must be explored and used as a benchmark to evaluate the performance of smoking cessation interventions (CDC, 2019).

I have documented the practicum hours selected with the group of boys in the Capella Academic Portal Volunteer Experience Form. These data can be looked upon for clarifications and treatment demands.

Conclusion

This assessment discusses tobacco use from a quality, safety, and cost perspective. The extensive use of tobacco products, such as smoking cigarettes, results in poor quality of care, enhanced costs, and reduced patient safety among patients. The ANA, ALA, and ACA have developed specific policies and standards that improve patient safety and quality of care for smokers while diminishing costs associated with smoking cessation programs. The interventions that enhance patient safety by improving the quality of care are smoking cessation programs and the use of telehealth for tobacco control and smoking cessation. These interventions also mitigate the system and individual costs due to the long-term use of tobacco products.

References

ALA. (2022). Cigarette & tobacco taxes. Www.lung.org. https://www.lung.org/policy-advocacy/tobacco/tobacco-taxes#:~:text=The%20current%20federal%20cigarette%20tax 

Alqahtani, J. S., Oyelade, T., Aldhahir, A. M., Alghamdi, S. M., Almehmadi, M., Alqahtani, A. S., Quaderi, S., Mandal, S., & Hurst, J. R. (2020). Prevalence, severity and mortality associated with COPD and smoking in patients with COVID-19: A rapid systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 15(5), e0233147. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233147 

American Lung Association. (2022). Tobacco cessation treatment: What is covered? Www.lung.org. https://www.lung.org/policy-advocacy/tobacco/cessation/tobacco-cessation-treatment-what-is-covered#:~:text=Required%20Coverage 

ANA. (2020). Prevention and cessation of tobacco and other nicotine products statement of ANA position. nursingworld.org. https://www.nursingworld.org/~49b0b0/globalassets/practiceandpolicy/work-environment/health–safety/tobacco-cessation/ana-position-statement-on-tobacco-products-03202020.pdf 

Capella 4900 Assessment 2 Assessing the Problem Quality Safety and Cost Considerations

CDC. (2019). Secondhand smoke exposure among nonsmoking youth: United States, 2013–2016. Stacks.cdc.gov. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/80912 

CDC. (2019). Smoking & tobacco use. Smoking and Tobacco Use. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/index.htm

CDC. (2022). Costs and expenditures. Www.cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/cost-and-expenditures.html  

Cornelius, M. E. (2022). Tobacco product use among adults — United States, 2020. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 71(11). https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7111a1 

Elton-Marshall, T., Driezen, P., Fong, G. T., Michael Cummings, K., Persoskie, A., Wackowski, O., Choi, K., Kaufman, A., Strong, D., Gravely, S., Taylor, K., Kwan, J., Bansal-Travers, M., Travers, M., & Hyland, A. (2020). Adult perceptions of the relative harm of tobacco products and subsequent tobacco product use: Longitudinal findings from waves 1 and 2 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study. Addictive Behaviors, 106337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106337 

Capella 4900 Assessment 2 Assessing the Problem Quality Safety and Cost Considerations

Farsalinos, K., Barbouni, A., & Niaura, R. (2020). Smoking, vaping and hospitalization for COVID-19. Qeios, 12. https://doi.org/10.32388/z69o8a.12 

Haluza, D., Saustingl, M., & Halavina, K. (2020). Perceptions of practitioners on telehealth and app use for smoking cessation and COPD care—an exploratory study. Medicina, 56(12), 698. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina56120698 

John, R. M., Sinha, P., Munish, V. G., & Tullu, F. T. (2020). Economic costs of diseases and deaths attributable to tobacco use in india, 2017–2018. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 23(2). https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntaa154 

Kock, L., Brown, J., Hiscock, R., Tattan-Birch, H., Smith, C., & Shahab, L. (2019). Individual-level behavioural smoking cessation interventions tailored for disadvantaged socioeconomic position: A systematic review and meta-regression. The Lancet Public Health, 4(12), e628–e644. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2468-2667(19)30220-8 

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Siddiqi, K., Husain, S., Vidyasagaran, A., Readshaw, A., Mishu, M. P., & Sheikh, A. (2020). Global burden of disease due to smokeless tobacco consumption in adults: An updated analysis of data from 127 countries. BMC Medicine, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-020-01677-9 

Capella 4900 Assessment 2 Assessing the Problem Quality Safety and Cost Considerations

Spears, C. A., Mhende, J., Hawkins, C., Do, V. V., Hayat, M. J., Eriksen, M. P., Hedeker, D., Abroms, L. C., & Wetter, D. W. (2022). Mindfulness-based smoking cessation delivered through telehealth and text messaging for low-income smokers: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial. JMIR Research Protocols, 11(8), e35688. https://doi.org/10.2196/35688 

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Villanti, A. C., West, J. C., Klemperer, E. M., Graham , A. L., Mays, D., Mermelstein, R. J., & Higgins, S. T. (2020). Smoking-cessation interventions for U.S. young adults: Updated systematic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 59(1), 123–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2020.01.021 

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