In an attempt to expand the horizon of the students in professional assistance towards smoking cessation, the Green Lung club of UKM had decided to organize an educational visit to the quit smoking clinic at Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz UKM, Cheras. As such, this visit intended to increase one’s knowledge in a few matters which were nicotine dependence and withdrawal, clinical intervention for smoking cessation, and flow of quit smoking clinics. In order to achieve aforementioned objectives, a chain of events were held such as speech by a pharmacist – Mrs. Haniz Aqilah Hazaidi, introduction to Certified Smoking Cessation Service Provider (CSCSP), and speech by Dr. Nor Syafinaz binti Yaakob. This event was held on 3rd January 2025 from 7:30 a.m. till 12:30 p.m..
During the event, several crucial pieces of information on smoking were shared. Firstly, contents in a cigarette was talked about as a precedent to nicotine dependence and withdrawal. As stated previously, characteristics of nicotine withdrawal were presented along with methods of relief to improve identification and medical assistance in smoking cessation. Examples of such combinations are intense craving to smoke relieved by distraction and trouble sleeping reduced by cutting back on caffeine. Thus, this aims to educate the students on simple and easy methods of relief during smoking cessation.
Next, it is known that some smokers require external influence in order to quit smoking primarily through clinical intervention. There are a variety of possible clinical interventions available depending on the patient’s needs and severity of addiction which affects the overall flow of quit smoking clinics. On the day of the event, ABC for smoking cessation was mentioned. To clarify, ABC is split into three steps which are: Ask all people, Brief advice, and Cessation support. Thus, said clinical interventions aim to ease the burden of the smokers during smoking cessation and improve safety and efficacy of the outcome.
In conclusion, ample information on smoking was discussed during the educational visit. It is hoped that the future pharmacists will be able to actively participate in reducing and treating those involved in this tobacco tug-of-war.
Written by: ONG YU FENG




