Nicotine Replacement Therapy Prescribing and Lung Cancer Screening in Hospitalized Patients

Efforts to decrease cancer-related morbidity and mortality include increasing smoking cessation, however smoking remains prevalent. Classically, alerts within the electronic health record (EHR) are implemented to address gaps in care, yet studies suggest typical EHR alerts are often overridden and ignored. In this study, the investigators aim to decrease the incidence and burden of disease by including hospitalists as part of the multidisciplinary care team by implementing and evaluating a novel non-interruptive EHR alert embedded within a provider note as a tool to increase prescription of nicotine replacement therapy to patients who smoke upon admission to and discharge from the hospital. Investigators will investigate two randomized groups of resident physicians to evaluate their prescribing behaviors when the tool is introduced.

Patients

Inclusion criteria

• Hospitalized patients admitted to a General Medicine Service at MUSC Charleston
• Identified as actively smoking tobacco via nursing admission screening
• Admitted by a resident physician participating in the study (as indicated by the H&P note)

Exclusion criteria

• None

Resident Physicians:

Inclusion criteria

• Internal medicine resident physicians rotating on the hospitalist service at MUSC Health Charleston

Exclusion criteria

• None