Guidelines for Organizing Tobacco Counselling in Primary Healthcare Settings in the Baleares

Key Contextual Factors

• Before 2005, practically all tobacco prevention and treatment actions were carried out by health professionals themselves, without any coordination or reference to any plan. From this year onwards, each health centre has two experts responsible for the treatment and prevention of smoking. In addition, the constitution of the Technical Commission makes the actions and resources more dynamic and captures the training and organisational needs.

Key Components/Steps

• A first analysis of the situation was made in terms of the treatment offer, the training of professionals, the computerization of the registers and the available material.
• The conclusion of the analysis determined that primary care professionals in Mallorca had significant experience in the prevention and control of tobacco consumption. However, it was detected that between 2012 and 2015 there was a decrease in the training of professionals and a decrease in the number of groups treated.
• The need to implement a new plan for the fight against smoking was determined, reformulating the actions taken until then highlighting the future need to evaluate the actions and processes.

Main Impacts / Added Value

The initiative solves:

• The problem of the lack of updated knowledge of the Primary Care Teams about the treatment of smoking.
• The adequacy of the computer system to record the activity, which is extremely important when evaluating the structure, process and results of the actions.

In terms of benefits:

• A well-trained professional translates into a greater capacity to influence the population to facilitate the prevention and treatment of smoking more efficiently.
• Society benefits from actions based on scientific evidence with greater probability of satisfactory results.

Lessons Learned

• It has been essential to record the care indicators as a guarantee of the quality of the actions carried out.
• Collaboration of primary care in Mallorca with the Directorate General of Public Health and Participation, the Balearic Society of Family and Community Medicine (IBAMFyC), the Balearic Association of Community Nursing (ABIC) and other agents and sectors of the Community such as the Ministry of Education has been essential to empower the population and ensure that the preventive message of smoking reached different population groups. 

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