To the Editors:
I was surprised when I read the article “Tobacco Dependence Curricula in Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Education” by Heath et al (January 2002:27–33) and discovered that acute care nurse practitioner programs were spending so little time (1–3 hours overall for 70% studied) on smoking-cessation education.1 Having just started a nurse practitioner program myself, I am concerned about the amount of education that I will receive on this subject.
While reading the article, I realized that I had never heard of the 5 R’s or 5 A’s of smoking cessation. According to Heath et al, 24% of the programs surveyed did not cover this topic at all. With a little searching, I discovered that these techniques are included in the national guidelines provided by a panel representing the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and several other national health organizations.1,...