Overview of service
The Illinois Tobacco Quitline (ITQL) is funded by the
Illinois Department of Public in partnership with the American Lung
Association. They ITQL serves both
reactive and proactive call
schedules. This ITQL gathers demographic and minimal data
set tobacco questions on all callers. Content of sessions is based on the
callers’ readiness and stage of quitting. Education on FDA approved
interventions and recommendations for use are discussed. FDA approved tobacco
cessation interventions are arranged currently through sources approved. The ITQL staff have been trained in
risk assessment questioning, counseling tobacco users with mental illness and in
communicating to those with a diverse ethnic background. The ITQL currently
provides individual tobacco cessation counseling along with mailed or
electronic versions of educational and support material.
Background and relevant experience
with tobacco cessation services.
Established
in 2001, the ITQL is the only lung health
information and smoking cessation program offered by ‘Lung Health Experts’ due
to the partnership with the American Lung Association. The
ITQL provides barrier-free access to tobacco-cessation services through ease of
accessibility to tobacco cessation education, counseling and support when
callers are motivated to quit.
Staffing
The ITQL staff are Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialists,
RN’s and or RRT’s and are trained in education of cessation and tobacco
cessation interventions. Staff has attended training at the Mayo Clinic, New Jersey
Medical and Dental School or Florida State University programs. Training has
included addressing stages of change, motivational interviewing and recommended
treatment for nicotine dependence. Many staff are also ancillary medical
professionals and have backgrounds in previous counseling and health education
with multiple years of clinical experience.
Intake
The
ITQL intake and enrollment utilizes the Minimal Data Set Assessment recommended
by North American Quitline Consortium. Caller and household disease status is
also tracked. We currently evaluate a callers tobacco history, use, past use of
products, flying, PRP, PSP status, deployment
status, rank, branch of service, medication and risk assessment questionnaire
for making recommendations about each cessation product and appropriate use.
The ITQL offers live answer reactive and counselor initiated proactive calls.
Calls in queue transfer to live answer Intake Specialists.
Counseling
Our
staff provides cessation counseling and relapse prevention to eligible clients.
A tobacco cessation counselor works with each individual to develop a detailed
tobacco cessation plan best suited to that person's tobacco habits and
lifestyle. Each caller will receive individualized counseling and subsequent
information outlining the tobacco cessation process.
Evaluation
During the National Conference on
Tobacco or Health and the National Quitline Consortium meetings July 2012,
details were presented on “industry standards” for follow- ups. The
recommendation is as follows:
Conduct follow-up seven months following enrollment. This
recommendation builds upon the existing MDS (minimal data set) system and has
the advantage that a majority of cessation programs already conduct follow-up
at this time. This recommendation corresponds well to the six month time
point recommended by the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT)
workgroup while also allowing an initial one month grace period to initiate
both treatment and a quit attempt.
Over
the past few years, we had been promoting and implemented follow up calls at 3,
6 and 12 months post a self-reported quit date. We now make a 7 month follow up
call to all callers enrolled in the program regardless of quit
status during calls to the Helpline. This now aligns with the industry
standard. Our follow up data set mirrors the recommendation set forth by Department
of HHS/CDC in the Quit line Resource Guide.
Hours of Operation
The Illinois Tobacco Quitline operates 24 hours with live
voice answer. Counseling is available 7 a.m. – 11 p.m.
CST, seven days a week. Current phone technology provides multiple call routing
to available staff, call queue monitoring, queued call back, on hold messaging
and voice mail capabilities.
