Through collaborative efforts from St. Rita's Respiratory and Pharmacy departments, patients enrolled in the program will learn to quit their tobacco dependence through counseling, aimed at behavior modification and nicotine replacement therapy. During the patient's hospital stay, a Smoking Cessation Counselor will conduct an initial counseling session with the patient, sharing the details of the program, what the patient might expect while in the program and learn more about the patient's smoking habits. Before discharge, the patient will have an appointment to meet with a pharmacist in the Disease Management Center to discuss and begin nicotine replacement therapy.

According to Mary Reed, Director of the Heart Center at St. Rita's, similar programs at other institutions report very significant success rates, some as high as 86%. The program's components of counseling plus nicotine replacement therapy, combined with a patient's motivation to make a lifestyle change help make the program successful reports Reed.

A similar program is available to St. Rita's employees who want to quit the smoking habit.