Nicotine and Vaping: What Clinicians Need to Know

Date: 07/12/24       Time: 9:30 – 11:00am

Contact Hours/CEU’s: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Enrollment Limited to: No limit

Method: Lecture, discussion

Description: Smoking cigarettes remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States and causes more than 440,000 deaths each year. In addition, vaping continues to grow in popularity and is the most common delivery method of nicotine among teenagers and young adults. Nicotine is the main addictive chemical in both smoking cigarettes and vaping. This session will review the mechanism of action, addictive potential, metabolites, and withdrawal symptoms of nicotine. Medications to help people quit using nicotine products will also be reviewed in detail, including discussion of their efficacy and how to take them. Finally, special issues with nicotine use, including co-occurring psychiatric disorders and medical complications will be discussed. Time for questions will be available after the presentation.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the mechanism of action of nicotine through which it causes addiction. Identify the metabolites of nicotine and how to interpret their detection in urine drug screening.
• Describe the withdrawal symptoms of nicotine and how to manage them.
• Understand the differences between the FDA approved medications to help people quit using nicotine products. These medications include nicotine replacement therapy, bupropion, and varenicline.
• Identify the harmful effects of vaping and why it is not recommended to help people quit smoking.
• Give an overview of the potential medical complications from smoking cigarettes and vaping.
• Identify common psychiatric co-occurring disorders with nicotine use, including schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety along with how to treat them.

Instructor: John Douglas, MD, MBA, MS
Locations: Live via Zoom
Cost: Free to attendees thanks to an Opioid Settlement Fund Treatment Grant awarded to WJCS by the Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health.

Westchester Jewish Community Services is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0101, and by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW0067.

Please note: To receive CE credits, one must attend the entirety of the class. Partial credit will not be awarded to those who attend only a portion of the class. Therefore, late arrival or an early departure of greater than 10 minutes constitutes not attending a class in its entirety. To document attendance, participants must sign in and out of the class and complete an evaluation at the end of each class.

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