An exceptionally effective smoking cessation program that results in more than 44 per cent of participants remaining smoke-free for six months or more is being hailed as a new national model for use across the country. Developed by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute
(UOHI) and supported in part by the Government of Canada, the so-called Ottawa Model will be implemented in two major health districts in the country, in British Columbia and New Brunswick.
The Ottawa Model is a hospital-based program involving a unique combination of consult and intervention, information, follow-up and feedback. At UOHI, about 1,500 in-patient smokers are identified annually and more than 98 per cent participate in the Heart Institute's program. Between 30 and 50 per cent each year remain smoke-free for six months or longer.
The program is now being replicated in 12 hospitals in the Champlain region of Ontario and is being used to assist all smoking patients, not just those with heart disease.
