A STUDY OF NURSE’S ROLES IN A SMOKING CESSATION CLINIC

Abstract

                This research aimed at studying nurse’s roles in a smoking cessation clinic by using a Ethnographic Delphi Future Research (EDFR). Informants were 17 experts including a group of 3 physicians specializing in the treatment, 5 head nurses in working smoking cessation clinic, 6 nurses working in smoking cessation clinic, and 3 academic experts teaching in a smoking cessation training. Research procedures consisted of 3 rounds. The first round was an interview with the experts about the nurse’s roles in the smoking cessation clinic. In the second round, the data from the interview were analyzed in terms of content and used to develop a questionnaire for the experts to estimate the trend of importance of nurse’s roles in the smoking cessation clinic. In the third round, the data from the second round were used to calculate the median and the range between quartiles, and
a questionnaire was developed for the experts to confirm their opinions in order to determine the nurse’s roles in the smoking cessation clinic.

                Research results showed that the nurse’s roles in the smoking cessation clinic consisted of 6 dimensions as follows: 1) A counsellor and an information provider, consisting of counselling and providing systematic information both groups of patients and heath care personnel; 2) A care provider for cigarette addicts, consisting of providing holistic care for cigarette addicts according to nursing procedures; 3) A coordinator for service provided at the smoking cessation clinic, consisting of communicating and coordinating between personnel and related organizations and patients who received services at the smoking cessation clinic; 4) An administrator in the smoking cessation clinic, consisting of planning, data management, and participating with any issue of smoking cessation; 5) An advocator to protect patients’ rights, consisting of providing care for patients who received services at the smoking cessation clinic with quality according to nursing standards and professional standards; and 6) A developer for work and innovation in service provided at the smoking cessation clinic, consisting of developing and presenting academic work related to the smoking cessation clinic.