Counseling medical and dental patients about cigarette smoking: the impact of nicotine gum and chart reminders.

To investigate methods for improving and expanding the counseling of smokers by physicians and dentists, we assigned 112 physicians and 50 dentists (in separate studies) to one of the following conditions: the control or advice-only group received a one-hour lecture on the consequences and management of smoking and a booklet detailing a four-step protocol for counseling patients about smoking; three other groups received, in addition, either, protocol reminder stickers placed on their patients' charts; nicotine gum made freely available to their patients; or both chart reminders and nicotine gum. Exit interviews of 1,091 medical and 647 dental patients indicated that the presence of chart reminders and/or the availability of nicotine gum increased the time spent counseling and altered the nature of the smoking cessation counseling provided by both physicians and dentists.