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Giving out vapes at accident and emergency (A&E) departments in England and Scotland boosted patients' confidence to switch away from smoking, according to new research. A University of East Anglia led study in collaboration with Exeter and other partner institutions has looked at how well a smoking cessation program worked when offered to people unexpectedly in emergency departments. The paper is published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research .
The researchers conducted interviews with both patients and staff in six hospitals involved in the trial and observed what happened in the emergency department to understand the context. In interviews with 34 patients, most found it acceptable to receive brief help to quit smoking while in A&E. Professor Richard Holland, Dean of University of Exeter Medical School and co-author on the study, said, "Helping cigarette smokers quit is so important for their health.
Some people may raise questions about giving out vapes in hospitals. Given the huge toll that smoking can take, it's important to try new and innovative ways to encourage people to consider less harmful options. "Our research showed that giving brief advice, provision of an e-cigarette starter kit and referral to stop-smoking services in this setting can really help, and was welcomed by smokers while waiting in A&E.
" Smoking cessation staff said many participants saw it as a way to pass the time, and some patients even said it was a welcome distraction from the discomfort or pain they were experiencing while they were waiting to be seen. The researchers also found that the staff (11 stop-smoking advisors) had to be flexible in how they delivered the program, depending on the space and urgency of the emergency department . Lead author Professor Caitlin Notley of UEA's Norwich Medical School said, "Hospital emergency departments provide an excellent opportunity to help people quit smoking, but there might be concerns about whether it's the right place for such interventions.
"We discovered that most people enrolled in our trial found it beneficial to receive brief help to quit smoking while in A&E. Many knew they probably had a long time until they would be seen and were amenable to speaking to stop-smoking staff while they waited. Our research suggests that A&E departments are an opportune location to support smoking cessation to improve long-term health.
" One female participant told researchers: "I was really unsure about the vape until I was in hospital. When they suggested it, I thought great, maybe it's not as bad as everyone was suggesting it was. If someone in hospital is offering to put you on that, it's got to be better than smoking.
" A male participant said, "In A&E, I was stuck there, so I was there for a couple of hours as it was, so, it probably increased my likelihood to actually enroll." Previous research linked to the wider trial had found that of the people who were given free e-cigarette starter packs in A&E, almost one in four (23.4%) reported having quit smoking at a six-month follow-up.
This was compared to 12.9% of the people who were given the usual care—written information about locally available stop smoking services. And another analysis of the data produced in the trial found that experimenting with commercially available vapes may be important for some people's success in giving up smoking .
More information: Caitlin Notley et al, The Context of the Emergency Department as a Location for a Smoking Cessation Intervention—Process Evaluation Findings From the Cessation of Smoking Trial in the Emergency Department Trial, Nicotine and Tobacco Research (2024). DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntae223.
