What Does This Measure?

The percentage of pneumonia patients with a history of smoking cigarettes who were given information or counseling to help them quit smoking.

Why Is This Important?

Smoking damages the lungs and can make breathing difficult, increasing the risk for pneumonia and other chronic lung diseases. Quitting may reduce a patient’s chance of contracting pneumonia again.

Patients who receive advice or counseling about quitting smoking are more likely to quit than those who do not.

What Are We Doing to Improve Our Performance?

Duke has enacted several initiatives to improve our performance. These include:

• Computerized physician order entry (CPOE)
• Evidence-based medicine
• Patient advocacy and support groups
• Patient rounding
• Patient safety and clinical quality committees
• Pneumonia-specific discharge instructions and patient education materials
• Nursing and physician education
• Smoking cessation programs and patient education information
• Standardized order sets
• Tobacco-free campus

More Information

• See more pneumonia quality measures
• See all performance measures
• Compare Duke to other North Carolina hospitals at NC Hospital Quality Report
• Compare Duke to regional and national hospitals at Hospital Quality Alliance's Hospital Compare