Kate has been a registered nurse for 19 years and has spent 12 years working as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner. She manages the Smoking Cessation service at Teladoc Health four days a week and works one day a week as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner at her local GP practice.
In this article, Kate discusses Teladoc Health’s virtual Smoking Cessation service, explaining what patients can expect, and offers tips for adopting a healthier lifestyle.
After requesting your appointment, you will be booked for a telephone consultation with a clinician trained in smoking cessation. The first consultation is generally the longest and takes approximately 45 minutes. During this consultation, the clinician will take a comprehensive smoking history and talk to you about any previous quit attempts you may have had. We take a look at your dependency on nicotine by using a scoring system and then make a plan together that involves setting a quit date that works well for you. We talk about the different forms of nicotine replacement therapies available and offer advice regarding how to best prepare for your quit date.
After this initial consultation, we will arrange to call you on your quit date to offer further support. As part of the smoking cessation service, we also arrange consultations to speak with you on week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4, and 3 months, and 8 months, smoke-free.
I recently had a patient who was smoking approximately 15 cigarettes per day and had been doing so for approximately 20 years. I took a thorough history, which revealed that the number of cigarettes would dramatically increase in certain situations. We found the patient was suffering from social anxiety and was using smoking as a way to escape certain conditions that they found overwhelming.
We agreed it was best to approach this using a multidisciplinary approach. The patient decided that they needed some help with managing anxiety, so I sign-posted them to our mental health team, who were able to support the patient by talking about different coping mechanisms they could try to help manage social anxiety. With smoking cessation support and mental health support, we were able to help this patient stop smoking.
I value having time to talk with patients; consultations are not rushed, and we always have the time to discuss what is best for individual patients and what is needed to support them in becoming smoke-free.
I also enjoy working with many different disciplines. Sometimes, during a smoking cessation consultation, it can reveal other areas in which the patient may be struggling. It’s nice to have the option to refer these patients to other services for further support e.g. nutrition or physio.
I am proud that I managed to gain a first-class honours degree and have worked my way up from a newly qualified nurse to an Advanced Nurse Practitioner and prescriber.
I am proud to have worked as a Specialist Nurse alongside world-leading cardiac surgeons at one of the most experienced centres in the world for heart and lung transplants. During this time, I provided training and support to patients and medical staff across the UK. I am also proud to have worked with UKHSA during the pandemic, advising and supporting many different services, including Care Homes and Hospitals.
-Try to exercise regularly, even if it is just getting out for a walk on your lunch break
-Drink plenty of water
-Try to stick to a healthy, well-balanced diet
-Take time out for yourself, spend time with friends/ family
-Stop smoking
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