Smoking Cessation

Key points

• Smoking cessation NICE released guidance in 2008 on the management of smoking cessation. General points include:
• patients should be offered nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), varenicline or bupropion - NICE state that clinicians should not favour one medication over another
• NRT, varenicline or bupropion should normally be prescribed as part of a commitment to stop smoking on or before a particular date (target stop date)
• prescription of NRT, varenicline or bupropion should be sufficient to last only until 2 weeks after the target stop date. Normally, this will be after 2 weeks of NRT therapy, and 3-4 weeks for varenicline and bupropion,
• if unsuccessful using NRT, varenicline or bupropion, do not offer a repeat prescription within 6 months unless special circumstances have intervened