Training Opportunities for Penn's Smoking Treatment Program

Integration of Tobacco Use Treatment into Healthcare

Summer: Monday, June 22 through Thursday, June 25, 2020

COVID-19 UPDATE:  Due to restrictions on public gatherings, the Summer MTTS course will be conducted virtually using the BlueJeans meeting platform.  Participants already registered for the June in-person course will automatically be registered for the web-based training.  Please contact us at Sarah.Evers-Casey@pennmedicine.upenn.edu if you would prefer to transfer your registration to a future in-person course.   

Credit Hours: Up to 30 Category I Hours

Description: Integration of tobacco treatment skills into the daily routines of healthcare is a prerequisite for achieving the highest quality outcomes. Whether your concern is screening for lung cancer, preventing hospital readmission, or simply maximizing the impact of outpatient chronic illness management, this highly interactive training program is designed to help providers develop advanced skills in tobacco dependence treatment. Participants deepen their expertise through concentrated examination of accepted standards of care, analysis of current research findings, and hands-on application of specialized treatment principles. Successful participants receive a Certificate of Professional Development from the Perelman School of Medicine – University of Pennsylvania, and are eligible for certification as Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist (CTTS) through the Association for Addiction Professionals (NAADAC).

The course is organized into four uniquely themed, day-long seminars. The goal for each day is to lead the student to a progressively deeper understanding of the biological, social, and environmental factors that influence the tobacco epidemic. At the conclusion of this course, attendees will have developed a new perspective on the problem of dependence, and experience a fundamental change in their approach to treatment.

The course is appropriate for healthcare providers from disciplines with both direct and indirect patient care responsibility. The syllabus is designed to be applicable to the needs of most professionals involved in the treatment of tobacco dependence, including but not limited to:

• Physicians
• Advanced Practice Nurses
• Physician Assistants
• Psychologists
• Nurses
• Addiction Counselors
• Community Educators
• Health System Administrators
• Insurance Industry Executives
• Public Health Officials

Certification: The Association for Addiction Professionals (NAADAC), in collaboration with The Association for the Treatment of Tobacco Use and Dependence (ATTUD) recently established the National Certificate in Tobacco Treatment Practice (NCTTP). The NCTTP certification consolidates the various certification processes previously utilized across the country into one national credential. The NCTTP application is available at www.naadac.org/ncttp and includes all the details required for submission.

Send your request for "Document of Completion" to Sarah.Evers-Casey@uphs.upenn.edu.

Learn More:

• The educational approach
• Available seminars and sample schedules
• ATTUD Accreditation

Contact Us:

• Email: PennStop@uphs.upenn.edu

• Register for upcoming training seminars

Webinar Series: Finding A Way to Help Every Smoker at Every Visit

Dates: Available On Demand

Description: A series of 30-60 minute discussions focused on practical tips and techniques for implementing tobacco dependence treatment in a variety of healthcare settings. Appropriate for providers of all disciplines interfacing with the ill-effects of tobacco dependence. (View System Requirements)

• Managing Reluctance to Quit in Your Smoking Patients (40 minutes): A practical review of the genesis of reluctance in addiction, followed by a straight-forward model for managing its impact. A short introduction to counseling techniques, appropriate for any discipline that involves direct patient contact.

• The Basics of Tobacco Dependence Pharmacotherapy (45 minutes): Pharmacotherapy is an integral adjunct to counseling when managing a patient's compulsion to smoke. Learn tips for maximizing the effectiveness of core pharmacotherapeutic strategies discussed in the US Public Health Service Guidelines. Discusses several prescription medications, but appropriate for providers of any discipline faced with answering question about pharmacotherapy supports.

• The Pharmacist's Role in Controlling the Tobacco Epidemic (60 minutes): Geared toward PA pharmacists interested in gaining membership to PA's pre-approved Tobacco Cessation Registry, but chock full of practical advice on "5-A" guideline implementation within busy practice settings.

• E-cigarettes in Psychiatric Practice (60 minutes): A general overview of electronic cigarette systems and their impact on smoking initiation / maintenance - presented to a collaborative group of Pennsylvania rural psychiatrists (in partnership with Community Care Behavioral Health), but appropriate for any clinical audience interested in the e-cigarette phenomenon.

• Treatment of Tobacco Dependence: A Critical Component of Behavioral Health (60 minutes): Review of the biologic genesis of tobacco dependence and basic pharmacology principles, relevant to the Behavioral Health setting and appropriate to practitioners of any discipline within the field.

• The Tobacco Epidemic Feeds The Opioid Epidemic! - The Biological Basis for Overlap in Dependence Syndromes (60 minutes): Why does addressing the opioid epidemic absolutely require a simultaneous approach to treating tobacco? Doing a better job treating the opioid epidemic implicitly means doing a better job with the tobacco epidemic at the same time. The biological basis for the overlap between these two important public health crises is explained.

• Developing More Effective Communication Strategies (35 minutes): Of course we would like to do a better job getting our message across to the people who could most benefit from our services. Sometimes, it can feel like it's hard to know just what to say. Maybe, it's not what we say, but how we say it that gets our message across.

• Informing Clients of Upcoming System Change (15 minutes): What's the best way to inform clients about upcoming plans for a smoke-free space? How do we do the best job we can ensuring both clients and staff have the best information possible? The nature of the problem is reviewed, and alternative non-confrontational strategies are explored.

• "Hey! That's Not Why I'm Here..." (12 minutes): Constraining a person's ability to smoke at-will is often experienced as a significant threat to well-being and can lead to anticipatory anxiety. How do we best manage clients' initial reaction when facing unplanned abstinence from smoking? This talk incorporates practical tips for implementation of biological concepts introduced within the Biological Overlap discussion above.

• "I've Got a RIGHT to Smoke!" (13 minutes): When it comes to tobacco, popular cultural assumptions have framed continued substance use as an expression of autonomous choice. This runs counter to the way we think about other substances of abuse, and the influence they can exert over autonomy. We discuss non-confrontational ways to discuss the concept of rights within the substance abuse recovery setting, focused on promoting an advocacy relationship, rather than an adversarial one.

Contact Us:

• Email: PennStop@uphs.upenn.edu