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| No. 20 | 
Jan 07, 2009, 10:57 PM
 Re: Hospital extends smoking ban to nearby sidewalks
do people really believe that a nicotine patch will take away the need for a cigarette esp in a patient who is facing a operation or a unknown dx??
i haven't smoked in decades and most of the time the smell of smoking is unpleasant but SOMETIMES i remember the wonderful feeling of a first cigarette when i was worried or just needed to think about something
oh yes the morning coffee and paper were incomplete w/o a cigarette
compassion is something we need to offer to all
 | | Advertisement Sponsored Links | | | | No. 21 |
Jan 07, 2009, 11:17 PM
Re: Hospital extends smoking ban to nearby sidewalks
Smoking is bad for you, I used to smoke.
I will not encourage others to smoke.
I sure as heck would never wheel a patient out to smoke
I have been asked to do that before.
One person here decided to say that I lack
Compassion.. Yes I do, in fact I hate that
word, it is thrown around like a buzz word
which does not mean much.
| | No. 22 |
Jan 07, 2009, 11:46 PM
Re: Hospital extends smoking ban to nearby sidewalks Originally Posted by patrick1rn  Smoking is bad for you, I used to smoke.
I will not encourage others to smoke.
I sure as heck would never wheel a patient out to smoke
I have been asked to do that before.
One person here decided to say that I lack
Compassion.. Yes I do, in fact I hate that
word, it is thrown around like a buzz word
which does not mean much.
It must be really lonely perched so high up there...
| | No. 23 |
Jan 07, 2009, 11:56 PM
Re: Hospital extends smoking ban to nearby sidewalks
I aggree with all above but if an drug seeker left the unit to go outside and score or a pt with alcohol problems sat up in bed drinking a bottle of Vodka or sat in the front of the hospital drinking a bottle of wine-I think a lot of us would have a few issues with this.
I am not saying dont treat because somebody has an addiction I am saying if you are well enough to go outside to smoke then you can go home to be treated.
I would never ever not treat anybody who needed my help.
I also have an issue with pt's who present to the ER with potentially serious health problems then moan and complain all day that they are NPO for tests.
I think I am having a bad week-it has been a long time since I stood on my soap box.
Please nobody take offense I have hundreds of bad habits myself so who am I to call the kettle black but it does make for an interesting debate-does it not
| | No. 24 |
Jan 08, 2009, 12:01 AM
Re: Hospital extends smoking ban to nearby sidewalks Originally Posted by madwife2002 I aggree with all above but if an drug seeker left the unit to go outside and score or a pt with alcohol problems sat up in bed drinking a bottle of Vodka or sat in the front of the hospital drinking a bottle of wine-I think a lot of us would have a few issues with this.
I am not saying dont treat because somebody has an addiction I am saying if you are well enough to go outside to smoke then you can go home to be treated.
I would never ever not treat anybody who needed my help.
I also have an issue with pt's who present to the ER with potentially serious health problems then moan and complain all day that they are NPO for tests.
I think I am having a bad week-it has been a long time since I stood on my soap box.
Please nobody take offense I have hundreds of bad habits myself so who am I to call the kettle black but it does make for an interesting debate-does it not
The only points I would debate are that 1) drug use is illegal, and 2) many states/localities have open-container laws making drinking in front of the hospital illegal.
| | No. 25 |
Jan 08, 2009, 12:53 AM
Re: Hospital extends smoking ban to nearby sidewalks
My last hospitalization that wasn't due to having a baby was due to an asthma attack from second-hand smoke. I was pregnant and quite bad off with my breathing. (I remember the ER staff talking about my blood gases being "really crappy" when they were talking amongst themselves.) The smokers thought that since they weren't smoking in the same room as me (but yet in the same house and level), that I'd be fine. What smoker knows how far his or her smoke goes, anyway? Unfortunately, I was living at their house at the time, so there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it. Most unfortunately is that I was pregnant then. Anyway, it all worked out...my asthma was well under control until the smoke came in. On top of that, I can't tell you how many times I was hospitalized with asthma attacks when I was a kid until my dad decided to stop smoking--at least a dozen.
My family has history of a disease called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, of which I am a carrier and DH is as well. (My dad has it.) According to our geneticist we saw, 1 year of CUMULATIVE second-hand smoke for a person with this disease can result in the early-onset emphysema that is typical of this disease. This is actually a pretty common disease to be a carrier of, apparently, but most people aren't aware of it.
Another thing--when a person goes out to smoke and then tries to cover it up with perfume, I can bet I will have an allergic reaction to either the smoke or the perfume, if not both, and that is when I am healthy. Imagine a patient in a compromised state having to fight that off.
| | No. 26 |
Jan 08, 2009, 12:56 AM
Re: Hospital extends smoking ban to nearby sidewalks Originally Posted by BizR32 I came to the this site looking for info on case managers, medicare, observation vs. inpatient status, etc., for a new job. Then, I ran across this thread. I just had to reply.
Why is it that compassion only extends to alcoholics and drug abusers? Even employers set up programs for rehab from drugs & alcohol, plus you get to keep your job. These are mind-altering addictions. Possession & drunk-driving are illegal.
Admit that you are a smoker & you are fair game for diatribes about the evils of smoking. No one thinks twice about admonishing smokers, but will lend a compassionate ear to a drug user or alcoholic.
Yes, I am a smoker. But I am also very careful. I do not smoke around non-smokers, especially children. I have no problem following the rules. So why are we treated as 'lesser citizens'?
Would you deny a liver transplant to someone who has wine with dinner?
As far as patients smoking - they are under enough stress just being in the hospital. And you want them to go cold turkey? I'm not saying that they shouldn't be encouraged to quit, but let's deal with one stressor at a time.
We can put a man on the moon or Mars, but we can't provide a smoking area with adequate ventilation?
I think the bottom line is: where has compassion gone? And when did self-righteousness take over? As nurses, we are here to help & educate, not judge.
Obese people get this same sort of treatment. It's uncanny.
| | No. 27 |
Jan 08, 2009, 02:08 AM
Re: Hospital extends smoking ban to nearby sidewalks Originally Posted by cnm in progress That's very interesting. I don't see how it can be legal to discriminate against someone for doing something that is legal. (I DON'T SMOKE, AND I'D LOVE TO SEE THE DAY WHEN NO ONE SMOKED, BUT...)
Do they also test for alcohol? How about a cholesterol level, or a blood glucose? I'm about as conservative as they come, but I have serious issues with that hiring policy!!! 
My thoughts exactly. Things have gotten out of hand with this anti-smoking witch hunt. People make poor health decisions all the time and guess what, that is their right as an American adult. There is this ridiculous belief that smokers don't really count as people somehow. For example, people would be up in arms if you went around saying to overweight people eating junk food, "Oh my god! How can you put that crap into your body?! Thats disgusting!! Greasy crap like that should be banned and you should be ashamed of yourself!!!". And yet, that is essentially what we're doing to people who choose to smoke, with policies like this [banning smoking in public outdoor areas]. I know a lot of you are going to start talking about the dangers of second hand smoke, but if we're talking about an outdoor, open air environment, then this argument is completely invalid. The amount of smoke you would take in from someone smoking a cigarette like 10 feet away from you are so minuscule that there is practically no risk to your health. Seriously, it would be worse for you simply breathing in the valley of Los Angeles on certain days. We've gotten so behind this anti-smoking bandwagon, that people stopped looking at actual facts. If someone wants to destroy their own lungs, thats their business, but lets quit pretending that banning smoking in outdoor areas actually protects non-smokers from some kind of health risk.
| | No. 28 |
Jan 08, 2009, 02:16 AM
Updated
Jan 08, 2009 at 07:59 AM by sirI
Re: Hospital extends smoking ban to nearby sidewalks
I completely agree. I won't deny that people would be better off if they quite, but that in no way justifies presenting ******** information as scientific fact.
| | No. 29 |
Jan 08, 2009, 02:17 AM
Re: Hospital extends smoking ban to nearby sidewalks Originally Posted by OC85 If someone wants to destroy their own lungs, thats their business, but lets quit pretending that banning smoking in outdoor areas actually protects non-smokers from some kind of health risk.
Cigarettes have triggered my asthma attacks. You can pretend that they don't harm some people, but they do. Even in the outdoors, the smoke goes somewhere. You want to know something? If I'm driving in my vehicle with the vents open, the smell of cigarette smoke from the car in front of me travels to my own car. Granted, I need more than a cigarette's worth of second-hand smoke to get me hospitalized, but it'll do it eventually, and it doesn't take much.
I don't think the solution is to go batty regulating smoking, but I do think that smokers have very little idea of just how far the smoke goes and what effects their smoke has. I would really like for smokers to have to experience the crud they say just cannot not happen, that this comes from convoluted statistics, etc. I think that would help more than people regulating the crap out of smoking, at least I would hope.
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