UW-CTRI Founders Dr. Tim Baker and Dr. Michael Fiore are the editors of the new Monograph from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) on tobacco use and treatment to be released this month.
NCI founded the series in 1991 as the Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph series. It provides comprehensive scientific reviews of tobacco use, treatment, and prevention topics to inform the work of researchers, clinicians, and public health practitioners to reduce cancer morbidity and mortality.
“We found that high rates of tobacco treatment reach and engagement can be achieved in oncology clinics treating cancer patients who smoke,” Fiore said. “There’s no one-size-fits all approach to treat cancer patients who smoke. But a team approach—including clinicians, IT staff, clinic administrators, rooming staff, and often nurses and pharmacists—can get the job done.”
The researchers cited the Cancer Center Cessation Initiative (C3I), led by UW as part of the NCI Cancer Moonshot Initiative, for best practices on how to incorporate tobacco treatment into oncology care, including:
- View tobacco cessation as an essential component of cancer care, just as one would view surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy/immunotherapy.
- Leverage electronic health records to identify oncology patients who smoke and offer to help them quit.
- Deliver evidence-based quit-smoking treatment to every patient who smokes and is diagnosed with cancer.
“C3I has proven this can be done with more than 76,000 oncology patients,” Fiore said. “The next challenge is to disseminate these best practices across the country to help more cancer patients break free from addiction and live longer, healthier lives.”
The scientific editorial committee for this new 23rd edition were Baker, Fiore, Dr. Anne Joseph, Dr. Monica Webb Hooper, and Dr. Gordon Willis.