Demographic, Smoking, and Clinical Characteristics Associated with Smoking Cessation Care Provided to Patients Preparing for Surgery

&NA; The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with smoking cessation intervention provided by nursing staff of a preoperative clinic in NSW Australia. A retrospective audit of 194 randomly selected medical records of patients attending a non cardiac preoperative clinic at a major teaching and referral hospital was conducted. Patients scheduled to receive general anaesthesia and patients smoking more than 10 cigarettes per day were more likely to receive smoking cessation care. The findings suggest that preoperative nursing staff preferentially provide cessation care and do not maximize the opportunity to reduce patient operative risk and promote long‐term patient health through the systematic provision of cessation intervention to all patients who smoke.