Feasibility of a Stop Smoking Program for Healthcare Workers in an Italian Hospital: Econometric Analysis in a Total Worker Health® Approach.

Abstract

Over 20% of healthcare workers (HCWs) are active smokers. Smoking is a targeted issue for workplace health promotion (WHP) programs. Our study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the Stop Smoking Promotion (SSP) intervention, a 6-hour training course for HCWs, which took place from May 2018 to July 2019. We compared HCWs who successfully quit smoking (n = 15) to those who did not (n = 25) in terms of Sickness Absence Days (SADs). Moreover, we conducted an econometric analysis by calculating the return on investment and implementing a break-even analysis. Among the 40 enrolled workers, a success rate of 37.5% was observed after a span of over two years from the SSP intervention (with nurses and physicians showed the best success rate). Overall, participants showed a noticeable absenteeism reduction after the SSP intervention, with a reduction rate of 85.0% in a one-year period. The estimated ROI for the hospital was 1.90, and the break-even point was 7.85. In other words, the organization nearly doubled its profit from the investment, and the success of at least eight participants balanced costs and profits. Our pilot study confirms that WHP programs are simple and cost-saving tools which may help improve control over the smoking pandemic in healthcare settings.