POTSDAM -- St. Lawrence Health System patients now have a new way to look at quitting tobacco with a success rate as high as 84 percent, according to SLHS.

Dr. Eric Seifer conducted a quit-tobacco assessment and treatment session of a patient Nov. 1 while being observed behind mirrored glass by Clarkson University pre-health professions students.

“The health coaches were able to see quit-tobacco assessment and ‘Dynamic Dialogues’ methodology in action, in real time,” said Seifer.

“This helps students understand the behavioral aspects of medical assessment and treatment, and it helps them now as health coaches when they’re out there in the community working one-on-one as liaisons between the Health System and patients in their homes.”

SLHS says Seifer attributes his 84 percent success rate to engaging the patient in “Dynamic Dialogues” on tobacco cessation, with the added practice of mutual accountability, he says. This means the patient is asked for a commitment to change, while the provider commits to support throughout that change.

“If a patient wants to change behavior, the provider needs to engage in a tobacco cessation approach that integrates medical science with an understanding of the spiritual, emotional, and motivational aspects of behavior change,” said Seifer, who has a background in behavioral health in addition to his pulmonology specialty. “Without these elements, the patient’s and the provider’s efforts are doomed to failure, and then it’s doubly difficult to motivate someone to do something different.”

Observing the patient-provider interaction, student health coaches were joined by three SLHS care coordinators, the Clarkson course professor, an inpatient-to-outpatient transitional care manager, and staff of SLHS’s population health office. Seifer is the medical director of population health management, in which patients representing a particular health population (those with addiction to tobacco, for example), are offered coordinated programming.

The patient was informed and consented to the observation, which is a method used in medical schools across the country, but exclusive to SLHS in St. Lawrence County.