HealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsDeliver custom or industry designed product training directly to patient and resident care environments to reinforce proper use.
View All ProductsTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream leverages medical professional development in healthcare by providing staff training programs
View All ProductsCreate engaging and impactful learning experiences that meet the unique needs of your acute care staff.
View All ProductsExperience standardized and centralized healthcare provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment that is smarter and faster than ever before.
View All ProductsAutomated, web-based provider credentialing and enrollment software for growing medical groups.
View All ProductsNCQA-certified CVO verification services for initial and re-credentialing files in an overflow or full-service capacity for healthcare organizations.
View All ProductsSearch, review, and add providers into the Epic provider master file with our Epic app integration, Provider Validate.
View All ProductsFinally, a comprehensive resource to support collecting, storing, and sharing credentialing data with ease.
View All ProductsHealthcare scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
View All ProductsPrecisely align staffing and needed resources to enable efficient patient flow and high-quality, cost-effective patient care.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
View All ProductsMitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.
Learn MoreSmoking is the single largest preventable cause of death and illness in the world, with more than an estimated 480,000 deaths every year—or one in five overall deaths worldwide. Yet more than 34 million Americans still smoke cigarettes, and more than 16 million live with a smoking-related disease. Right now, 29 percent of all cancer deaths in the United States are related to smoking. In addition to causing cancers of the larynx, mouth, sinuses, pharynx, esophagus, and bladder, it has been linked to the development of cancer in the pancreas, cervix, ovary (mucinous), colon/rectum, kidney, and stomach, and in some types of leukemia. And yes, cigars and pipes cause cancers as well.
That’s why the American Cancer Society (ACS) has put on the Great American Smokeout every November for more than 40 years. The event, which grew out of a 1970 event in Randolph, Massachusetts, when people were asked to give up cigarettes for a day and donate the money they would have spent to a high school scholarship fund. It spread to other states, and the ACS took it nationwide in 1977.
This year’s Great American Smokeout occurs on Nov. 21 and hopes to build on the successes the ACS has been seeing in recent years. Statistics from the ACS show that the smoking rate has dropped significantly, from 42 percent in 1965 to 14 percent in 2017. Yet, there is still much work to be done. Some groups of Americans, such as those who have less education, who live below the poverty level, or who suffer from serious psychological distress, as well as certain racial and ethnic groups, and members who identify as LGBTQ+, suffer disproportionally from smoking-related illness and death, the organization says.
Stopping—and staying stopped—has immediate benefits
Quitting smoking isn’t easy. One huge plus to doing so is that the health results begin almost immediately and continue to improve over time. Here are some of the visible, tangible ways that smoking cessation pays off physically:
Other benefits? How about lowering the risk of diabetes, not to mention better-functioning blood vessels, heart, and lungs.
And you’ll live longer: The ACS says life expectancy for smokers is at least 10 years shorter than that of non-smokers, and that quitting smoking before the age of 40 reduces the risk of dying from smoking-related disease by about 90 percent. Quitting at any age can give back years of life that would be lost by continuing to smoke.
Finally, food will taste better, your sense of smell will improve (not to mention how you and your clothes smell), and no more yellow teeth and fingernails! Also, the savings—smoking is an expensive habit, and getting pricier all the time. Use this calculator to crunch the numbers, and if nothing else motivates you to stop, then let the bottom line get you in the right frame of mind!
How to get help
Stopping smoking is hard, so getting help is important. Quitting cold turkey is tough, and your chances are much improved with support, counseling, medication or any combination of those. You’re dealing with a nicotine addiction, and so having a plan is vital. Here are some proven methods for success:
Telephone quitlines
The ACS’s Freshstart and Quit For Life programs
Nicotine Anonymous meetings
Self-help books and materials
Smoking counselors or coaches
Encouragement and support from friends and family members
It’s best to double up on these, using two or more for best results. For instance, prescription medicine alone with nicotine replacement. Or use them all—and best of luck!
HealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All Learning & PerformanceHealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsWhen you enact HealthStream's quality compliance solutions, you can do so with the confidence your healthcare organization will meet all standards of care.
View All Quality & ComplianceFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsHealthStream offers professional training and education on how to best optimize your reimbursement process within your healthcare organization.
View All ReimbursementTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ResuscitationIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsExpand the decision-making skills and effectiveness of your healthcare workforce with HealthStream's clinical development programs and services.
View All Clinical DevelopmentMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream leverages medical professional development in healthcare by providing staff training programs
View All ProductsLearn more about HealthStream's provider credentialing, privileging, & enrollment solutions for healthcare organizations.
View All CredentialingExperience standardized and centralized healthcare provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment that is smarter and faster than ever before.
View All ProductsAutomated, web-based provider credentialing and enrollment software for growing medical groups.
View All ProductsNCQA-certified CVO verification services for initial and re-credentialing files in an overflow or full-service capacity for healthcare organizations.
View All ProductsSearch, review, and add providers into the Epic provider master file with our Epic app integration, Provider Validate.
View All ProductsMake sure your healthcare staff can schedule out appointments and work schedules with ease using HealthStream's line of software solutions.
View All SchedulingHealthcare scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
View All ProductsPrecisely align staffing and needed resources to enable efficient patient flow and high-quality, cost-effective patient care.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
View All Products