Maryland’s Health Matters - Midtown - Spring 2018 - 15

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CENTER FOR PULMONARY HEALTH

SPOTLIGHT
Pulmonologists Janaki
Deepak, MD, Avelino Verceles, MD,
and Ashutosh Sachdeva, MD.

when the smoking cessation team can
step in and begin guiding them toward
a healthier life."
From the patient's bedside, team
members will design an individual
smoking cessation plan based on
the patient's needs. While plans vary,
measures could include alleviating
cravings and nicotine urges through
nicotine replacement therapies (such
as patches or gum) or non-nicotine
medications like Chantix.
Team members will also provide inpatients with smoking cessation education
and counseling-and then recommend
they continue their therapy at the center once they return home.

You Don't Need
to Quit Alone
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CENTER FOR PULMONARY
HEALTH LAUNCHES SMOKING CESSATION PROGRAM

Q

Outpatient smoking cessation services
include one-on-one and group counseling, and medication management.
Smoking cessation experts say interventions that combine medication with
at least four to eight sessions of behavioral counseling are most effective.
"It all comes down to the continuity
that's provided," says Janaki Deepak,

uitting smoking isn't easy,

to reach out to the Baltimore commu-

MD, pulmonologist and assistant pro-

but thanks to a new smok-

nity and help them with this citywide

fessor of pulmonary and critical care

ing cessation program at

problem of tobacco addiction," says

medicine at the University of Maryland

the University of Maryland Center for

Avelino C. Verceles, MD, associate pro-

School of Medicine. "You can see

Pulmonary Health at UMMC Midtown

fessor of medicine at the University of

a patient who is addicted to tobacco

Campus, area residents will soon have

Maryland School of Medicine and sec-

once, but if you don't maintain con-

the extra support they need to lead

tion chief of the Division of Pulmonary,

tinuity, then there's going to be a

a tobacco-free life.

Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine.

problem maintaining success. That's

"When patients are admitted, we learn

the crux of this program. We want to

by pulmonologists, a behavioral psy-

from their social histories or medical

start in the hospital and continue as

chologist and a nurse practitioner,

conditions if they are smokers. That's

an outpatient service." 

The comprehensive program, led

combines medical therapies with education and counseling, and it begins
when the patient is in the hospital.
"This program is a major effort by the
University of Maryland Medical Center

GET THE HELP YOU NEED
The smoking cessation program will launch at the University of Maryland Center
for Pulmonary Health on July 1. For more information, please call 410-328-8141.
umm.edu/midtown  15
http://www.umm.edu/midtown
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Maryland’s Health Matters - Midtown - Spring 2018
