Statement of the Union of Finnish Healthcare Associations: Preventing and caring for tobacco addiction is part of daily life in health care sector

Association of Finnish Pharmacies, Finnish Dental Association, Finnish Pharmacists' Association, Finnish Union of Practical Nurses, Finnish Medical Association, Finnish Nurses Association, Finnish Union of Public Health Nurses, Finnish Federation of Oral Health Care Professionals, and Union of Health Care and Social Professionals have made the following public appeal to their members:

Because

- 30% of Finnish men and 20% of Finnish women smoke daily

- every second smoker in Finland will die from smoking-related illness

- 6 000 Finns die early in smoking- related heart and circulatory diseases and cancer

- 70% of smokers want to quit smoking

- 20% of men and 25% of women have tried to quit smoking in the last year

Aware of that

- health care professionals are in a special position to help smokers to quit smoking

- the skills of health care workers should be used to help smokers to quit smoking

- health care professionals are an example to the rest of the population and for that reason, their efforts to quit smoking should be especially supported

- regular smokers in the health care sector include 7 % of doctors, 3 % of dentists, 9 % of nurses and 6 % of pharmacists

- evidence based guidelines for smoking cessation have been prepared to aid health care professionals.

the Union of Finnish Healthcare Associations wishes to emphasize that

- They support the evidence based recommendations for smoking cessation and encourage their members to support cessation based on the recommendations

- they wish to promote the elimination of smoking among those who work in the health care sector

- health care units must provide services for smoking cessation, and the society as a whole must direct sufficient funds to training, production of training materials, and implementation of smoking cessation therapies

- training programs for the various professions within healthcare must include information about preventing smoking and treating tobacco dependence.

The Union accordingly makes the following pleas to its members:

- That health care professionals would discuss smoking with their patients and offer help to those who are dependant of tobacco.

- That in their work, they would try by all possible means to reduce smoking among children and young people, and to stop them from starting to smoke.

- That health care professionals would not smoke and would seek for help in cessation if needed.