According to the US Public Health Service, all patients attempting to quit 
smoking should be encouraged to use one or more effective pharmacotherapy agents 
for cessation except in the presence of special circumstances. This article 
provides an overview of the pharmacologic agents for acute and critical care 
nurses to consider when intervening with tobacco-dependent patients. Medications 
addressed in this article include (1) first-line agents (nicotine replacement 
therapy, sustained-release bupropion) that have proven efficacy and are approved 
by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for smoking cessation, (2) second-line 
agents (nortriptyline, clonidine) that have proven efficacy but no FDA 
indication for smoking cessation, (3) approaches that use of combination or 
high-dose therapy, (4) herbal therapies, and (5) emerging therapies that are 
currently under investigation.