Counseling to stop smoking for heart attack patients

Smoking cessation advice/counseling refers to a healthcare provider telling smokers that they should quit smoking because of the health dangers and giving them information about how to quit.

Smoking increases risk of blood clots and heart disease that can result in a heart attack, heart failure or stroke. Smoking is also linked to lung disease and cancer, and can cause premature death. It is important that smokers who have had a heart attack quit smoking to improve their chance of survival and their quality of life. When healthcare providers provide smoking cessation advice to patients, it may represent a higher level of patient care.

About this measure

The first graph below shows the percentage of adult heart attack patients with a history of smoking who were given smoking cessation advice and/or counseling prior to being discharged from the hospital.  The second graph shows a trend over time for this measure.  For purposes of this measure, a smoker is defined as someone who has smoked anytime during the year prior to hospital arrival.


Note: In this case, a higher number is better.  

Most Recent Available Data (Percent)
  2012 Q2
Northwestern Memorial 100
National Average 100
State Average 99
Performance Trend (Percent)
Northwestern Memorial 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
National Average 97 99 99 100 100 100 100
State Average 96 100 100 100 100 100 99
Source:U.S. Department of Health & Human Services,
AMI-4 AMI Adult Smoking Cessation AdviceCounseling