Smoking-Related Illnesses and Impact of the QUIT Campaign - Essay Example

Smoking related illnesses (all ages) and the impact of the QUIT Campaign. By: Smoking related illnesses are ailments that triggered by smoking. Lung cancer is a popularly accepted consequence of smoking. Hypertension and heart attacks are strongly linked to smoking. The nurse’s impact on the quitting campaign is a successful reduction in smoke related illnesses. The prevalence patterns of smoke –related illnesses are staggering. Yearly, the average smoking –related adverse events of pregnant women smokers include 78 infant deaths, 6,890 hospital separations, and $23,000,000 healthcare expenses (Ford, 2004). Another study conducted showed that the Australian government could save and estimated 1,000 hospitalisations due to Acute Myocardial infarction and 350 hospitalisations due to stroke by focusing on the reduction of the smoking habit starting in 2001. In addition, the Australian government could save $20.4 million in healthcare costs over a seven year period starting in 2001 (Hurley, 2005). In addition, another research conducted focused on the Victorian hospital antenatal statistics. The findings of the study showed that the rate-ratio for smoking in each hypothesised high prevalence group had been computed and combined with the absolute number of births in each high-risk group. The prevalence of the smoking habit of the entire population decline as well as the high-risk sector reduction had been propped up as a model. The results of the study show that Victoria had higher rates of antenatal smoking among single [RR = 4.67 (3.46-4.42)], teenage women [RR (95%CI) = 3.26 (3.00-3.54)] of indigenous ethnicity [RR = 4.39 (3.94, 4.88)] and with low income [RR = 4.67 (4.17-5.22)] (Grills, 2010). On the other hand, all of the high-risk groups represented a relatively small percentage of mothers; most antenatal smokers are aged 25-34, educated, city-based, non-Indigenous and non-impoverished. The conclusions of the same study indicated that most of the Victorian women who continue to smoke during their pregnancy do not belong to traditional high-risk smoking groups. The findings of the research indicate that the unstopped lessening in the smoking habit prevalence in the high-risk sector can be successfully arrived at by the entire population’s prevalence decline. This crops up even though a probable continuity in the high relative risk inside the sectors concerned occur. On the other hand, a unique focus on smoking prevention and decline in high-risk groups may not succeed to lessen the entire population’s antenatal smoking prevalence (Grills, 2010). There are many risk factors. Smoking triggers lung cancer. According to the World Health Organisation report in 2002, around 19,000 Australians will die from the effects of smoking in 1998 alone. Smoking can precipitate to an increase in coronary heart condition. Another condition that is triggered by smoking is stroke. A third effect of smoking is the onslaught of lung cancer. A fourth effect of smoking is cancer of the non-lung type. Another product of smoking is cardiovascular disease. In addition, another 2001 research convincingly displayed that patients are twice as much prone to having bronchitis as compared to persons who shy away from a cigarette stick. Likewise, people who smoke had 1.7 times the probability of incurring the emphysema condition when contrasted with individuals who never picked up a cigar or cigarette stick. The same research indicated that 25 percent of the Australian community are hooked to the smoking habit. Specifically, 32 percent of the population within the 25 years to 34 years age bracket (Statistics, 2005). Likewise, smoking reduces the capacity of the lungs to absorb oxygen; this increases the danger of hypoxia causing irreparable damage to the heart and the patient’s brain. In response, postponing surgery until the patient stops smoking would be beneficial to both the medical doctors and the patients going under the knife or surgery (O'Brien, 2005). The levels of prevention can be easily achieved. A Cochrane study of behavioural intervention indicated that stopping the smoking habit from 20 percent to 14 percent would save 20 baby lives in one year. In addition, there would be 1,600 lesser hospital separations yearly. The hospitals can save an estimated $5,000,000 in healthcare expenses annually (Ford, 2004). Further, money funneled into controlling the smoking habit will rein in the heightening cost of the pharmaceutical benefit scheme of the Australian government. Here, the 2001 -2002 Australian government focused on drug - reducing smoking –related cardiovascular diseases by five percent. The five percent reduction translated to $4.5 billion government savings in terms of cardiovascular disease drugs (Jacoby, 2008). In addition, the Australian government’s tobacco control interventions helped reduce the pharmaceutical benefits scheme costs and contribute to the viability of its healthcare –financing programs to tune of $1 billion net present value (Hurley, 2004). The government’s health promotion campaigns and prevention strategies are vividly advertised. Another study composed of about 100 Aboriginal as well as an estimated 179 non-Aboriginal children who were born in Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital from 1999 to 2003 showed that environmentally transmitted or second -hand smoking should be reduced. The reduction would improve the babies’ chances of having a healthy childhood and adult life. The same study indicated that an estimated 73 percent of Aboriginal children plus another forty –five % of the non –Aboriginal children youngsters from otitis media. The media was triggered by inhaling second –hand smoke (Jacoby, 2008). Further, another study was conducted to determine attitudes relating to and obedience to the recent Australian government’s serious prohibition of puffing a cigarette in licensed venues as well as the smoking ban’s effect on the Australian citizen’s attitude. The research method focused on three Australian states (Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia). The smoking ban had been imposed to include all enclosed licensed establishments starting in 2006. Two other communities, Victoria and New South Wales, implemented the ban during the middle of 2007. The study applied 6 waves of the ITC-4 country survey resulting to an average of 1,694 samples for the years 2002 to 2007. The findings of the study indicated that the majority of related international findings indicate over 90 percent of smokers complied with the government’s no –smoking policy as compared with a prior stature where smoking was not banned. The people’s resistance to the smoking ban gradually subsided within one year of the initial smoking ban implementation. The findings indicated that there was no evidence of any increase in lifting the smoking bank inside the home after the ban had been strictly imposed. The study indicated that there was no decrease in the number of cigarettes consumed. One good reason is that the smokers had shifted from smoking within prohibited establishments to smoking in allowed locations (Cooper, 2010). The implications of the research can be appended to the voluminous studies on the effect of smoking ban on the person’s health as well as the right of fellow workers to be free from breathing in passive or second hand smoke. The study showed that smokers are willing followers of the smoking bank, though the bans may have limited effect on the Australian individuals’ number of cigarettes smoked each average day (Cooper, 2010). The nurse implements a very vital role in preventing the smoking related conditions. The personal touch of nurses is instrumental in helping pregnant women stop smoking during and after pregnancy (Ford, 2004). The nurse can inculcate in the minds of the patients that a Dubbo study conducted by the Seventh –Day Adventists proved beyond reasonable doubt that a reduction in smoking prolonged an elderly person’s life. The nurse’s intervention creates a crucial impact in terms of persuading the patients downed by smoking – triggered ailments to immediately implement a lifestyle change (Simons, 2005). In 2001, the Australian government budgeted $2,000,000 annually for ten straight years to conduct a study on the effect of controlling the Australian smoking habit. The smoking –related study had been funded by the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation. Additional funding came from the Cancer Council Victoria. The research results indicated that there were 300,000 hospitalisations and $682 million spent associated to cigarette smoking (Hurley, 2006). BRIEFLY, smoking related illnesses are ailments that triggered by the smoking habit. The prevalence patterns of smoke –related illnesses are shocking. The risk factors include the unwanted emergence of lung cancer, stroke, hypertension, heart disease, and other ailments. The levels of prevention can be easily realized. In addition, the Australian government’s tobacco control interventions aided the pharmaceutical benefits scheme costs and have a say to the viability of its healthcare –financing programs amounting to a $1 billion net present value (Hurley, 2004). The health promotion campaigns and prevention strategies are clearly advertised. The nurse dons a very important function in preventing smoking -related disabilities. Effectively, the nurse’s influence on the quitting campaign is a successful reduction in smoke related illnesses. REFERENCES Cooper, J. (2010). Compliance and Support for Bans on Smoking in Licensed Venues in Australia. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health , 34 (4), 379 -385. Ford, J. (September, 2004). Medical Journal of Australia (Vol. 181). Sydney: Pyrmont Press. Grills, N. (2010). Balancing Absolute and Relative Risk Reduction in Tobacco Control Policy. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health , 34 (4), 374 -378. Hurley, S. (2006). Hospitalization and Costs Attributable to Tobacco Smoking in Australia 2001 -2002. Medical Journal of Australia , 184 (1), 45. Hurley, S. (2005). Short -term Impact of Smoking Cessation on Myocardial Infarction adn Sroke Hospitalisations and Costs in Australia. Medical Journal of Australia , 183 (1), 13 -18. Hurley, S. (September, 2004). The Potential for Tobacco Control to reduce PBS Costs for Smoking -related Cardiovascular Disease (Vol. 181). Sydney: Pyrmont Press. Jacoby, P. (2008). The Effect of Passive Smoking on the Risk of Otitis Media in Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Children in the Kalgoorlie -Boulder Region of Western Australia (Vol. 188). Sydney: Pyrmont Press. O'Brien, D. (2005). Smoking Cessation and Elective Surgery: The Cleanest Cut. Medical Journal of Australia , 182 (1), 44. Simons, L. (2005). Impact of Smoking, Diabetes, and Hypertension on Survival Time in the Elderly: The Dubbo Study. Medical Journal of Australia , 182 (5), 219 -223. Statistics, A. B. (2005). Year book Australia. Sydney: Australia Bureau of Statistics. Read More