The NCSCT (National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training) have published a guide for medical professionals to assist people who wish to stop vaping.
Advice
The document covers how to advise people and their reasons to quit vaping. I quote…
1. Making an informed decision : Acknowledge clients’ success with quitting smoking and their interest in stopping vaping. Clients should be reassured that, if it helps them not smoke, there is no rush to stop using their vape. What we don’t want is people to feel that they must stop vaping before they are ready, increasing the risk of a relapse to smoking. If they are ready to stop, you can advise them on their options for stopping vaping gradually or in one step.
Inaccurate press stories, concerns about safety : It is important to clarify any misinformation about the safety of vaping and to let clients know what the evidence says about long-term use of vapes. It can also be useful to remind clients of the role that vaping played in helping them to quit smoking.
2. Pressure from others and concerns about frequency of use : If clients report concerns, which are often about the frequency at which they are using their vape, it can be helpful to explain that they may need to use their vape more frequently relative to smoking cigarettes. Frequent ‘grazing’ is common among vapers to obtain sufficient nicotine, unlike the ‘bingeing’ on nicotine when people smoke cigarettes.
Tapering Down Advice
There are options to offer to clients who want to gradually reduce their vaping as the image below shows.
I have to say I love how the NCSCT deal with the topic of vaping and how they try to educate some of the outdated and incorrect views some health professionals may have on the subject.
They also have as their priority the client not relapsing into smoking. Therefore encouraging them to use the methods that worked to keep them off the smokes.
Their guides are backed by the NICE guidelines and relevant evidence to give all the facts.