School to train Safeway pharmacists in smoking cessation counseling

Faculty of the UCSF School of Pharmacy will train Safeway supermarket pharmacists to help their customers quit smoking, using a curriculum originally developed at the School.

The new partnership with Safeway Inc. marks the first time a smoking cessation intervention has been applied systematically across a network of pharmacies.

Under the program, the School will train pharmacists based at 20 California supermarkets in a streamlined version of Rx for Change, the tobacco-cessation curriculum created by faculty in the School’s Department of Clinical Pharmacy to guide health care providers nationwide in evidence-based clinical interventions to help patients quiet smoking.

The initiative includes a three-month study by School researchers to assess the impact of trained pharmacists in stores enacting an “Ask, Advise, Refer” model—screening for smoking when filling prescriptions, advising customers on medications to help them quit, and referring them to a helpline.

The project is expected to expand over the coming year to include hundreds of Safeway pharmacies across the country.

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UCSF-Safeway Pharmacy Alliance Aims to Help Customers Quit Smoking