Background: Smoking cessation is a life-saving treatment for people who smoke. Assessment of smoking status, provision of brief advice to stop smoking, and the offer of smoking cessation treatment needs to be undertaken by all healthcare professionals if the burden of smoking related disease is to be reduced.

Discussion: Previously the 5A's mnemonic (ask, advise, assess, assist and arrange) has been widely used as a memory aid for providers in helping people stop smoking. Recently there have been some shorter variations of the 5A's approach, for example the American Dental Hygienists' Association's Ask, Advise, and Refer approach. The New Zealand Smoking Cessation Guidelines have recently been updated and in an effort to further simplify the 5A's for healthcare professionals a new mnemonic was developed - ABC. ABC is a simple, memorable prompt for providers of stop smoking services: Ask about smoking status, give Brief advice to stop smoking to all smokers, and provide evidence-based Cessation support for those who wish to stop smoking. This presentation will outline and discuss the structure of the ABC approach for encouraging smoking cessation and will draw upon some of the new evidence identified by the Guidelines Revision.

Conclusion: Healthcare professionals are well-placed to help people who smoke to quit. The ABC (Ask, Brief Advice, Cessation treatment) approach is a model that is memorable and incorporates all aspects of evidence-based smoking cessation treatment.