More work needs to be done to let smokers know the benefits of quitting before surgery, according to a local study.
A recent telephone survey of surgical patients at the University Hospital of Northern B.C. and Prince Rupert Regional Hospital found that only about half of the smokers in the group were aware of how quitting can help speed up their recovery and reduce complications.
"We were really surprised that there was very low knowledge around the correlation between smoking and surgical outcomes," Canadian Cancer Society health promotion co-ordinator Kerensa Medhurst said.
The Cancer Society is working with the B.C. Cancer Agency and Northern Health to find ways to increase the number of people who quit smoking before surgery.
According to Medhurst, smokers have a higher risk of post-surgical infection and other complications compared to non-smokers because of decreased oxygen flow and the fact their bodily systems aren't working at peak efficiency.
She said quitting smoking before surgery is one way patients can take care of their health at a time of uncertainty and can also lead to permanently kicking the habit.
"It's a time in people's lives when they don't feel have a lot of control over things and there's a heightened sense of their own health and well-being," she said. "So we want people to think it's something they can do and that it will greatly improve the outcomes of their surgery."
The three agencies are working together to ensure all healthcare professionals in the region inform patients about the risks of continuing to smoke before surgery and provide them with smoking cessation tools, like government-funded nicotine replacement treatment and counseling services.
The agencies will continue their education initiatives and plan to follow up with another patient survey in six to nine months.
"We want to create a system where it's consistent in every hospital and every clinical setting across the region so that no matter where you go, you're going to get the same level of service when it comes to smoking cessation resources," Medhurst said.
