Getting e-cigarettes into the tobacco treatment toolkit: Moving the medical community from “Should we?” to “How do we and for whom?”

The accumulating evidence now supports a strong conclusion that e-cigarettes are tools that health care clinicians can—and should—use to help adults stop smoking, especially those who cannot quit another way or who want to reduce health harm without quitting.  It is time for the medical community to add e-cigarettes to the tobacco treatment toolbox. The question is no longer “Should we?” but “How and for whom?” should we recommend them?  Doing so will require addressing multiple barriers. Both patients and clinicians misunderstand the relative risk of nicotine vs. combustible tobacco products.  Lack of a medically licensed product or guidance from medical organizations complicates making a specific recommendation for choosing a product or learning how to use it. This session will raise questions and highlight issues that are likely to arise for U.S. clinicians who add e-cigarettes to their tobacco treatment toolkit.