Dear Colleagues,
I'm delighted to be able to welcome you to Rx for Change.
It has been well established that tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death, affecting virtually every organ system in the body. Given that clinicians have a proven, positive impact on patients' ability to quit smoking, I strongly believe that tobacco cessation education should be a required component of health professional curricula for all disciplines.
In response to a decades-long gap in the tobacco cessation training of clinicians, the Rx for Change: Clinician-Assisted Tobacco Cessation program was created. This is an important shared, comprehensive curriculum that equips health professional students and licensed clinicians with state-of-the-art knowledge and skills for assisting patients with quitting. This evidence-based program serves as a vehicle for dissemination of principles set forth in the U.S. Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence.
Since its inception, Rx for Change has been used to train well over 100,000 clinicians throughout the United States and abroad and has been translated into multiple languages. With its relevance to all health professional disciplines, Rx for Change is a unique resource for interprofessional approaches to patient care. In this time of cost constraints, it is particularly important that we collaborate effectively and share our expertise and materials, with the common goal of enhancing patient care and improving medical outcomes.
I encourage you to learn more about this valuable resource.
Best regards,
Sue
UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH
Learn more about the Rx for Change program. The following versions are available: (1) the 5 A's (comprehensive counseling), (2) Ask-Advise-Refer (brief counseling), (2) Psychiatry, (4) Cancer Care Providers, (5) Cardiology Providers, (6) Mental Health Peer Counselors, and (7) Surgical Providers.
UCSF openly shares the Rx for Change materials with others at no cost; however, all persons who receive any component of the Rx for Change program must complete an online registration process, which includes acceptance of our End-User Licensing Agreement. Rx for Change can be used only for non-commercial teaching and research purposes and cannot be used for profit.