1561 Tobacco cessation program in national romanian television

Abstract

Introduction The smoking habit is widespread throughout the world, giving rise to great morbidity and mortality and being the leading cause of preventable diseases. In Romania, the percentage of smokers is 26% and tobacco consumption was responsible for the loss of 42 000 lives in 2016. Among the stressful professions that endure a high consumption of cigarettes per day, are the stressful professions related to television work: producers, editors, reporters, picture directors.This paper aims to present the tobacco cessation program developed in National Romanian Television in order to promote the health of its employees and to reduce the number of smoking related illnesses. Methods We started to achieve the present work in the current legislative context, in which the adoption of the Antismoking Law in 2016, prohibited smoking in the public spaces, so also in the spaces of National Romanian Television.That is why we have structured, since February 1, 2017, a Tobacco Cessation Program, by professional categories, insisting on the VBA (Very Brief Advise) but also on the pharmacological methods of quitting (nicotine replacement therapy, varenicline, bupropion). Result Smoking cessation results were satisfactory in the group of employees with VBA associated with pharmacological therapy (27.5% quit smoking and 25.3% reduced to more than half the number of cigarettes smoked in one day). The tobacco cessation program will continue, requiring the inclusion of all professional categories involved in television work and will be targeted especially on employees with chronic diseases (COPD, asthma, hypertension, chronic ischaemic heart disease, diabetes). Discussion Smoking cessation is an essential method of promoting health at work and decreasing the number of chronic illnesses and deaths attributable to smoking. We propose in the future the development of the program and the inclusion of behavioural support for smoking cessation as well as CO monitoring in expired air.