OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan 20, 2014) - The Ottawa Model for Smoking Cessation (OMSC), created and powered by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI), has reached an impressive 120,000 smokers across Canada since 2006, through personalized, best practice tobacco dependence treatment, resulting in increased quit attempts and long-term cessation.

In 2002, the Ottawa Heart Institute smoking cessation experts developed the Ottawa Model for Smoking Cessation - an institutional program that systematically identifies, provides treatment, and offers follow-up to patients who smoke. Implementation of the OMSC led to an absolute 15% increase in long-term quit rates at the Institute (from 29% to 44% at 6 months) and an 11% increase in more general hospital populations (from 18% to 29% at 6 months). In 2006, UOHI began to assist other inpatient, outpatient and primary care settings to implement the OMSC. Today, healthcare settings in 9 provinces across Canada have implemented the OMSC.

"The success behind the Ottawa Model for Smoking cessation is truly found in the determined teams across Canada that are providing personalized support to smokers who are trying to quit," said Dr. Andrew Pipe, Chief of the Division of Prevention and Rehabilitation at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. "With over 180 sites in Canada, and by continuing to work closely together, we hope to keep supporting more smokers in the years to come."

It has been found that 70% of smokers want to make a quit attempt in the next six months following their consultation. Receiving support from a healthcare practitioner has been shown to increase a patient's motivation to stop smoking. Smokers who try to quit with the help of best practice counseling, cessation medications, and follow-up, experience double or triple the success rate with quitting long term.

The OMSC team is comprised of tobacco treatment specialists, outreach facilitators, knowledge transfer coordinators, data analysts and evaluation specialists. As a team, they work towards improving institutional policies, systems, and practices to ensure the systematic identification, treatment, and follow-up of tobacco users in the healthcare organizations with whom they work.

Visit the Ottawa Model for Smoking Cessation website for opportunities to implement the OMSC in your region