By referring a patient, you can save a life!! Healthcare professionals are the single most influential determinant of tobacco cessation success, and can contribute significantly to a decrease in tobacco use. West Florida AHEC provides continuing education credits to healthcare professionals in-person.

West Florida AHEC strives to provide tobacco cessation continuing education for healthcare providers and students that are intuitive, applicable and free. We offer interactive evidence-based tobacco CE courses, reviewed by tobacco control experts and primary care physicians, on helping patients quit smoking and other tobacco use.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that all healthcare providers treat tobacco dependence in their practices. An intervention lasting as little as three minutes can have a significant impact on individual treatment outcomes.

Continuing education is offered by Tobacco Treatment Specialists to healthcare providers and community partners on a variety of tobacco-related topics.

Presentations are based on the Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline: Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence and the CDC Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs

West Florida AHEC offers tobacco education to vocational schools, community colleges, and universities with healthcare programs.

West Florida AHEC Tobacco Treatment Specialists give presentations to healthcare professions students on how to help their future patients quit tobacco. Students who participate in this program gain a better understanding of nicotine addiction, health effects of tobacco use, pharmacology of NRT, Motivational Interviewing and resources available to help tobacco users quit.

Trainings offered on a variety of tobacco-related topics to ensure that students receive comprehensive education on how to help their patients quit tobacco.

The Health Professions Student Training program follows the CDC’s (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs.

West Florida AHEC with the Florida AHEC Network, in partnership with the Florida Medical Association (FMA), is a provider of Category I Continuing Medical Education (CME). West Florida AHEC is also a provider of Cat I CHES for the Certified Health Education Specialist.

The Florida AHEC Network, along with the Florida Keys AHEC, is now offering free online courses for state mandated licensure programs and Tobacco Cessation training for healthcare providers.