BREATHE 2 Study Begins at Pilot Clinic

St. Luke's Medical Center
St. Luke’s Medical Center

The Breaking Addiction for Health Study 2 (BREATHE 2) began today at St. Luke’s Family Practice Clinic (above), part of the Advocate Aurora Health system (aka Aurora Health Care, Inc.). UW-CTRI is partnering with Aurora in eastern Wisconsin and UW Health in southwestern Wisconsin. St. Luke’s will pilot the study for approximately 4-6 weeks then other Aurora clinics will join in.

BREATHE 2 staff will reach out to 4,000 clinic patients listed as smokers in electronic health records at Aurora and UW Health to help those who are ready to quit and motivate those who aren’t.

Getting BREATHE 2—a major P01 grant—ready to roll was a gargantuan task, one made possible by many staff at UW-CTRI and their partners at Aurora and UW Health.
UW-CTRI staff met several times with both health systems to plan logistics in the participating clinics.

The Principal Investigator (PI) Team met weekly to oversee the launch of the study as well as finalize the study design. The Supplies & Meds Group ordered tobacco cessation medications and other study supplies with assistance from the Finance Team. Staff who implement the study, including the Milwaukee and Madison Health Counselors and the Aurora Tobacco Care Manager, have been busy learning study protocols and how to use the new REDCap database.

The Quality Assurance Team has drafted and reviewed quality-assurance documents to be ready to ensure that the study is being implemented as it should. UW-CTRI created BREATHE 2 marketing materials, designed for diverse demographics; each clinic ordered materials that best fit their patient population. UW-CTRI Director Dr. Michael Fiore has trained participating clinic staff on BREATHE 2.

BREATHE 2 is made possible by a $12.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute through May 2024. BREATHE 2 staff hope to begin offering treatment at UW Health pilot clinics next month.