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Quit Smoking with WakeMed
Stacy Thiedman PA-C, leads a discussion on how you can take the steps towards quitting smoking.
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Learn more about Stacy Thiedeman, PA-C
Stacy Thiedeman, PA-C
Stacy Thiedeman is a board-certified physician assistant with clinical interests in asthma, COPD, lung cancer and coronary artery disease. She earned her physician assistant degree from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Stacy brings over two decades of experience to WakeMed. Stacy is currently managing WakeMed’s Tobacco Cessation Program, Quit With WakeMed.Learn more about Stacy Thiedeman, PA-C
Transcription:
Quit Smoking with WakeMed
Scott Webb (Host): For anybody who's ever tried to quit smoking or tobacco use, you know how difficult it can be. Failed past attempts though at quitting should not discourage you from trying again. And here to emphasize that point today, and tell us more about the Quit With WakeMed Program, is Stacy Thiedeman. She's a Certified Physician's Assistant with WakeMed Health and Hospitals.
This is WakeMed Voices, a podcast from WakeMed Health and Hospitals in Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm Scott Webb. So Stacy, thanks so much for your time today. We're going to try to, you know, no pressure here on us, we're going to try to help folks quit smoking or at least give them some suggestions, some tips, and so on. As we get rolling here though, what's the relationship between smoking and lung cancer?
Stacy Thiedeman, PA-C (Guest): Well, there's a strong relationship. Lung cancer can be caused by many risk factors, but, about 80 to 90% of lung cancers are attributed to cigarette smoking. We estimate that of the 10 to 20 percent of patients who get lung cancer who never smoked, at least secondhand smoke is a strong contribution to their illness.
Host: Right. So, smoking, secondhand smoke, all of it directly or indirectly can lead to lung cancer. And that's what we're trying to help folks with. Try to avoid that if possible. So, what are the health benefits of smoking cessation?
Stacy: There are numerous benefits and some of them are immediate and some of them take years to realize. Immediately with smoking cessation, the risk for heart attack decreases, the risk for chronic heart disease starts to go down. Circulation improves, asthma and chronic bronchitis start to get better. There's less inflammation in the lungs and that's what makes people wheeze and cough. So, those things start to improve immediately.
Host: Yeah. And I've heard that from other medical professionals, and I've also heard really that you know, quitting smoking really is a matter of wanting to quit. If folks fundamentally just don't want to quit, if they're not committed to quitting that it's going to be difficult, very likely to fail. So, what advice do you have for patients who've tried to quit smoking and failed? You know, as a former smoker myself, I know that it, it's very difficult. It's the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life, which I'm sure it is for others. So, Stacy, what advice do you have?
Stacy: You know, I think a past failure is not a reason not to try again. Many smokers try to quit seven or more times before they're successful in becoming non-smokers. And because the therapy, didn't work once doesn't mean it can't work in the future. I think, having some preparation around smoking cessation is really important. And as you said, the right mindset is critical for success.
Host: Yeah, for me, that's what it was. The first few times, I don't think I really was committed. I don't think I really had, as you say the right mindset. Once I got to that mindset, though, then it became, as you say, about having a plan. Right? So, let's talk about that. What tips do you have for patients who no matter how many times they may have tried, or maybe it's their first time, what tips do you have in terms of developing that plan to quit?
Stacy: Engaging their healthcare provider is important. You know, there's lots of good evidence-based medicine that can help folks quit smoking, that can help with withdrawal symptoms. That can make it easier. You know, no one claims that it's easy to quit smoking. It's certainly not, but there are ways to make it easier. And it's important to utilize every tool possible in order to obtain success. So, engaging a healthcare provider is, a smart thing to do it. It makes quitting about three times more successful than trying to go cold turkey or go it alone. I think telling someone in your work or, or family circle who can be supportive of a cessation effort is also really important.
It's good to have someone who can hold you accountable as you're working on cessation. And then also I think, utilizing support such as behavioral therapy, can be really valuable. You know, a behavioral therapist is someone who I think of as kind of a change therapist and change is really hard so they can help identify triggers, help patients avoid triggers or make plans for how to cope during usual triggers for smoking, and incorporate some really great tools like mindfulness or meditation, to improve the process.
Host: So Stacy, you know, we've all been dealing with COVID-19 and different protocols and PPE and all of that. So, I wanted to ask you about Telemedicine or virtual visits, whatever you folks are calling them, you know, are you doing those and how are those going? You know, because for a lot of things, we just don't need to be, you and I, we don't need to be in the same room to do these. Right? So I'm sure you working with patients, you know, where does Telemedicine and virtual visits fit into that?
Stacy: I'm glad you asked. We are doing smoking cessation work currently with virtual visits, a hundred percent of the time. So, it's very convenient for patients to work with a medical provider and a behavioral health specialist, with a video visit, and generally, I work around patient schedules. We do early morning appointments. We do some weekend appointments, some evening appointments to accommodate individual needs and make it easy to be involved with the program.
Host: And I wanted to ask you what is Quit With WakeMed and why is it different from the other tobacco cessation programs that people may have heard of?
Stacy: So Quit With WakeMed is a tobacco cessation program for patients who want to quit or cut back on their tobacco use, whether it's cigarettes or chewing tobacco, snuff, cigars, vaping with e-cigarettes. We work with all sorts of patients to help them reduce their tobacco use. I'm the main provider now. I'm a physician assistant and have had many hours of tobacco cessation training. I work with a behavioral therapist who's also had very specific tobacco cessation training, and we offer just a comprehensive approach to cessation that may include pharmacotherapy, so medication or behavioral interventions, and we're really offering continued support for patients.
So, quitting cold turkey is about three to 5% effective for reaching cessation. Engaging a healthcare provider, you know, increases that to about 10%. But having just kind of a whole package of intervention can make success rates climbing to the 30 to 40% range, which is wonderful. And so it's continued follow up and having a provider be able to troubleshoot as a patient is working on cessation. It can start with cutting down. It can start with setting a quit date, kind of working at a patient's individual pace and along, you know, their comfort level to achieve cessation.
Host: Well, it's so good hear that you sort of stay with folks, that you remain there for folks because I know as an ex smoker, you know, it's sorta like once a smoker, always a smoker, you know, you may not have a cigarette in your hand or you may not be dipping. You may not be vaping. You may not actually be doing those things. And hopefully you're not right. Cause we've talked about the many health benefits to not doing those things, but sort of in your head, you kind of always feel like a smoker and you're going to need help. You're going to need support. You're going to need to maybe fall back on that plan. You may fall off the wagon, I guess, as they say. Right? So knowing that Quit With WakeMed and knowing that you're there with your team, you know, to help folks not only quit the first time, but remain, you know, ex smokers or ex vapers or ex you know, dippers and chewers and all of that stuff. So, this has been really helpful today, Stacy. Thanks so much and you stay well.
Stacy: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Scott Webb (Host): You just heard from Stacy Friedman physician's assistant with wake med and to learn more, visit wake med.org or call 9 1 9 3 5. Oh, quit. That's 9 1 9 3 5 0 7 8 4 8. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and take out the full podcast library for additional topics of interest.
This is wake med, voices of podcast brought to you by Wakeman health and hospitals in Raleigh, North Carolina. Thanks for listening.
Quit Smoking with WakeMed
Scott Webb (Host): For anybody who's ever tried to quit smoking or tobacco use, you know how difficult it can be. Failed past attempts though at quitting should not discourage you from trying again. And here to emphasize that point today, and tell us more about the Quit With WakeMed Program, is Stacy Thiedeman. She's a Certified Physician's Assistant with WakeMed Health and Hospitals.
This is WakeMed Voices, a podcast from WakeMed Health and Hospitals in Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm Scott Webb. So Stacy, thanks so much for your time today. We're going to try to, you know, no pressure here on us, we're going to try to help folks quit smoking or at least give them some suggestions, some tips, and so on. As we get rolling here though, what's the relationship between smoking and lung cancer?
Stacy Thiedeman, PA-C (Guest): Well, there's a strong relationship. Lung cancer can be caused by many risk factors, but, about 80 to 90% of lung cancers are attributed to cigarette smoking. We estimate that of the 10 to 20 percent of patients who get lung cancer who never smoked, at least secondhand smoke is a strong contribution to their illness.
Host: Right. So, smoking, secondhand smoke, all of it directly or indirectly can lead to lung cancer. And that's what we're trying to help folks with. Try to avoid that if possible. So, what are the health benefits of smoking cessation?
Stacy: There are numerous benefits and some of them are immediate and some of them take years to realize. Immediately with smoking cessation, the risk for heart attack decreases, the risk for chronic heart disease starts to go down. Circulation improves, asthma and chronic bronchitis start to get better. There's less inflammation in the lungs and that's what makes people wheeze and cough. So, those things start to improve immediately.
Host: Yeah. And I've heard that from other medical professionals, and I've also heard really that you know, quitting smoking really is a matter of wanting to quit. If folks fundamentally just don't want to quit, if they're not committed to quitting that it's going to be difficult, very likely to fail. So, what advice do you have for patients who've tried to quit smoking and failed? You know, as a former smoker myself, I know that it, it's very difficult. It's the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life, which I'm sure it is for others. So, Stacy, what advice do you have?
Stacy: You know, I think a past failure is not a reason not to try again. Many smokers try to quit seven or more times before they're successful in becoming non-smokers. And because the therapy, didn't work once doesn't mean it can't work in the future. I think, having some preparation around smoking cessation is really important. And as you said, the right mindset is critical for success.
Host: Yeah, for me, that's what it was. The first few times, I don't think I really was committed. I don't think I really had, as you say the right mindset. Once I got to that mindset, though, then it became, as you say, about having a plan. Right? So, let's talk about that. What tips do you have for patients who no matter how many times they may have tried, or maybe it's their first time, what tips do you have in terms of developing that plan to quit?
Stacy: Engaging their healthcare provider is important. You know, there's lots of good evidence-based medicine that can help folks quit smoking, that can help with withdrawal symptoms. That can make it easier. You know, no one claims that it's easy to quit smoking. It's certainly not, but there are ways to make it easier. And it's important to utilize every tool possible in order to obtain success. So, engaging a healthcare provider is, a smart thing to do it. It makes quitting about three times more successful than trying to go cold turkey or go it alone. I think telling someone in your work or, or family circle who can be supportive of a cessation effort is also really important.
It's good to have someone who can hold you accountable as you're working on cessation. And then also I think, utilizing support such as behavioral therapy, can be really valuable. You know, a behavioral therapist is someone who I think of as kind of a change therapist and change is really hard so they can help identify triggers, help patients avoid triggers or make plans for how to cope during usual triggers for smoking, and incorporate some really great tools like mindfulness or meditation, to improve the process.
Host: So Stacy, you know, we've all been dealing with COVID-19 and different protocols and PPE and all of that. So, I wanted to ask you about Telemedicine or virtual visits, whatever you folks are calling them, you know, are you doing those and how are those going? You know, because for a lot of things, we just don't need to be, you and I, we don't need to be in the same room to do these. Right? So I'm sure you working with patients, you know, where does Telemedicine and virtual visits fit into that?
Stacy: I'm glad you asked. We are doing smoking cessation work currently with virtual visits, a hundred percent of the time. So, it's very convenient for patients to work with a medical provider and a behavioral health specialist, with a video visit, and generally, I work around patient schedules. We do early morning appointments. We do some weekend appointments, some evening appointments to accommodate individual needs and make it easy to be involved with the program.
Host: And I wanted to ask you what is Quit With WakeMed and why is it different from the other tobacco cessation programs that people may have heard of?
Stacy: So Quit With WakeMed is a tobacco cessation program for patients who want to quit or cut back on their tobacco use, whether it's cigarettes or chewing tobacco, snuff, cigars, vaping with e-cigarettes. We work with all sorts of patients to help them reduce their tobacco use. I'm the main provider now. I'm a physician assistant and have had many hours of tobacco cessation training. I work with a behavioral therapist who's also had very specific tobacco cessation training, and we offer just a comprehensive approach to cessation that may include pharmacotherapy, so medication or behavioral interventions, and we're really offering continued support for patients.
So, quitting cold turkey is about three to 5% effective for reaching cessation. Engaging a healthcare provider, you know, increases that to about 10%. But having just kind of a whole package of intervention can make success rates climbing to the 30 to 40% range, which is wonderful. And so it's continued follow up and having a provider be able to troubleshoot as a patient is working on cessation. It can start with cutting down. It can start with setting a quit date, kind of working at a patient's individual pace and along, you know, their comfort level to achieve cessation.
Host: Well, it's so good hear that you sort of stay with folks, that you remain there for folks because I know as an ex smoker, you know, it's sorta like once a smoker, always a smoker, you know, you may not have a cigarette in your hand or you may not be dipping. You may not be vaping. You may not actually be doing those things. And hopefully you're not right. Cause we've talked about the many health benefits to not doing those things, but sort of in your head, you kind of always feel like a smoker and you're going to need help. You're going to need support. You're going to need to maybe fall back on that plan. You may fall off the wagon, I guess, as they say. Right? So knowing that Quit With WakeMed and knowing that you're there with your team, you know, to help folks not only quit the first time, but remain, you know, ex smokers or ex vapers or ex you know, dippers and chewers and all of that stuff. So, this has been really helpful today, Stacy. Thanks so much and you stay well.
Stacy: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Scott Webb (Host): You just heard from Stacy Friedman physician's assistant with wake med and to learn more, visit wake med.org or call 9 1 9 3 5. Oh, quit. That's 9 1 9 3 5 0 7 8 4 8. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and take out the full podcast library for additional topics of interest.
This is wake med, voices of podcast brought to you by Wakeman health and hospitals in Raleigh, North Carolina. Thanks for listening.