Audience: Hospital personnel, tobacco coalition members, community-based organizations, local health department staff, policy makers, state and local tobacco control program staff, community health advocates

Key Points: Implementation of tobacco free campus policy is a viable means to implement the PHS Guideline on Treating Tobacco Use (5 A's). The Greater Capital Region Health Care Tobacco Free Initiative is comprised of 19 hospitals in the Albany, New York area that collaborated to become tobacco fee campus facilities in January of 2007. All hospitals in the Initiative strengthened their policies and practices on tobacco dependence treatment. These changes include screening of all patients for tobacco use, dedicated trained personnel such as nurses, respiratory therapists, or cessation counselors, to consult with tobacco using patients, and making nicotine replacement therapy a standing order for tobacco dependent patients. Quality Control department professionals of each hospital are working with the local tobacco control funded Cessation Centers to collect data and report back to clinical staff. These policy changes are consistent with the recommendations of the PHS Guideline on Treating Tobacco Dependence.

Learning Objectives: Find one or more facilities to champion going smokefree collaboratively

Establish a coalition of hospitals

Write a letter of commitment signed by CEO's and made public

Provide ongoing support via collaborative meetings

Benefits: Participants will learn how to collaborate with hospitals in a region to implement the PHS Guideline by strengthening their policies and practices on tobacco dependence treatment.