Asking patients about tobacco use and documenting their tobacco use status increases the rate of clinician intervention.

Possible ways to ensure consistent documentation include adding smoking status to the list of vital signs, use of a smoking status sticker on charts or use of computerized reminder systems. Checking tobacco use status may be done by members of the healthcare team other than the physician.

Fiore MC, Bailey WC, Cohen SJ, et al. Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence. A Clinical Practice Guideline. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, 2000. http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/treating_tobacco_use.pdf

Anderson P, Jane-Llopis E. How can we increase the involvement of primary health care in the treatment of tobacco dependence? A meta-analysis. Addiction 2004; 99: 299-312. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=14982543&query_hl=4&itool=pubmed_docsum