The University of Nebraska Medical School is pilot-testing a smoking-cessation intervention that includes giving patients personal digital assistants (PDAs) loaded with support materials designed to boost long-term abstinence, the Associated Press reported Nov. 12.

Information on the take-home digital devices includes tips on spotting withdrawal symptoms and situations that can trigger smoking. "I try to use it daily," said Dale Marsh, 45, a patient in the PDA program. "I pick it up every now and then and go through some of the stuff on it."

Researcher Lynne Buchanan said that while most patients abstain from smoking in the hospital, but run into more problems when they go home. About 30 patients in the  FRIENDS - Follow-up Relationship Intended to End Smoking program have received PDAs along with other smoking-cessation tools, like nicotine patches and gums.