Primary Care Public Health Nursing Service

Sharing Experience of Visit to Mayo Clinic

YU Siu-ling, Registered Nurse, Tobacco Control Office

To enhance the professional standard of our health care personnel in smoking cessation and tobacco control, the Tobacco Control Office of the Department of Health delegated staff to participate in the annual "Nicotine Dependence Conference" held at Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, United States in October last year.  Participants in this conference also included representatives of health departments and non-governmental organizations from various places in Europe and United States.

Mayo Clinic is a hospital which provides various kinds of medical services, among which their "stop smoking service" is regarded as most special.  It provides smokers with residential stop smoking program whereby various methods such as the use of medications as well as individual and group counseling are adopted to help them revert to a tobacco-free life.

The Conference was held from 24 to 28 October 2005.  Topics covered included the most updated researches on smoking cessation, for example, theories of tobacco dependence, techniques for using nicotine replacement products, relationship between smoking cessation and weight, as well as hazards of passive smoking to the body.  There were also specialized topics on counselling, such as how to help juveniles and women quit smoking as well as how to motivate smokers to quit smoking within limited timeframe.  In addition, we had visited the smoking cessation facilities in the Mayo Clinic, which enabled us to gain deeper insight into its services.

¡§Motivational Interviewing¡¨ was an important topic in this 5-day Conference.  It was a counsellee-oriented (i.e. smoker-oriented) counselling theory.  The counsellor should have empathy and give the smokers autonomy on the basis of cooperation in guiding them to resolve self-ambivalence and increase smoking cessation motivation, awareness and perception, as well as enhancing their confidence and capabilities so that they are well prepared physically and mentally to embark on the road of smoking cessation.  This counselling technique was highly worthwhile to make reference to as it was applicable to smokers of any background, history and psychological status.

This Conference had not only enhanced my knowledge on and experience in smoking cessation, but also enabled me to share my knowledge on different smoking cessation methods and tobacco control cultures with health care personnel from various places of the world.  My horizon was indeed broadened.  It is hoped that such experience sharing would benefit our work which in turn can promote the smoking cessation service in Hong Kong.

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