After identifying a patient as a smoker, the patient’s willingness to try to quit should guide the quit attempt plan. Figures 1 and 2 present treatment flow-diagrams for patients willing and unwilling to make a quit attempt at the time of the clinic visit. Of course, some patients will start smoking during a cessation attempt. When should the clinician abandon treatment? Perhaps only half of smokers who lapse go on to fully relapse (e.g., 43), therefore clinicians should encourage the patient to keep trying to quit as long as the patient is willing. If the patient wants to abandon the quit attempt, the clinician should encourage the patient to smoke as little as possible given data linking reduced smoking to later successful quitting24.
