Hospital extends smoking ban to nearby sidewalks

It is stupid and unenforceable. It is part marketing gimmick and part control issue and that is it.

When I worked at Vanderbilt and there was talk about a campus wide smoking ban, I recall talking to one of the senior nurse administrators about that issue. She mentioned that we needed to set a healthy example for the community and do our part to keep the environment clean. I asked her when she was going to sell her gas guzzling, smog spewing SUV for the environment and when she was going to set a healthy example for the community by losing about 100 lbs. She really could not say anything to that. (And yep, there was a meeting with my director afterward about my "attitude").

Just my two cents: I have asthma and am affected by cigarette (and other types:-) of smoke. I have even started to close up after having to work at close quarters with a co-worker who just came back in from their regular "breathing treatment" break (out of doors in the open air) and has the residue on their clothing. So even smoking in the "open air" can affect other people--whether you want to believe it or not.

That being said, I don't agree with the "witch hunt" either and was shocked when I learned that a local hospital discriminated against smokers by not hiring them and firing current employees if they found out that they smoked elsewhere. It is one thing to control what goes on in your own business (and there are legitimate financial reasons to ban smoking at work--and legitimate health and safety reasons to ban it in hospitals) but quite another to try and control a perfectly legal habit outside of work hours. I wouldn't want to be told not to drink or smoke in my own home if that was my choice. I think government is already way too involved in our personal lives and that it will only be getting worse in the near future.

I don't smoke, thank the Lord, but I do have compassion for smokers. I can't put down the last brownie or resist ice cream many times, how much worse it must be to need an actual addictive substance and be told--"No, you can't have it".

This is a very difficult subject that I have very mixed emotions and thoughts about. I have seen so many very sick people come through my ER that are dragging their own home O2 tanks, coughing up nasty stuff and looking thoroughly miserable. I have seen babies come through the door blue and gasping for air because their mom can't stop smoking in the house. A particular co-worker of mine who smokes is, at this very moment, in one of our ICU's due to a particularly bad lung disease flare-up. Your immediate gut reaction is "ban all smoking--this is horrible" but it's not very realistic. Look at prohibition, all that did was trigger a new crime--smuggling ETOH--(which reminds me of a funny ER story for another day)

All that being said, I do get very upset when I work my tail off (figuratively of course--see the brownie and ice cream reference above) all day with one bathroom break in 12 hours and continuously see other nurses go off to the smoke pit every couple of hours. In all fairness they don't stay gone for 30 minutes in our department--(there would be anarchy!) but in the ER sometimes even 5 minutes can make a difference when 4 ambulances roll through the back door, the guy in room 6 decides to code and a family member has a syncopal episode in the hallway--all within a 5 minute time period. (Can't make this stuff up--it happened on my last shift!)

The drinking and obesity references from other posts don't justify the problems caused by smoking. The whole "two wrongs don't make a right" quote seems to apply here. If I came to work smelling of ETOH you can bet I'd be sent home--if not fired. If I were so big that I couldn't do my work--I should be fired. It's not legal, around here, to sit on the sidewalk and drink alcohol. They haven't passed any laws about sitting around being a little overweight though, thank goodness or I might be headed toward jail one day in the future! We lock up cigarette lighters, guns, knives, alcohol, legal controlled substances and illegal ones for staff and pt safety. We don't discriminate just against smokers. Even though I know many of the pt's feel that way.

Sorry to ramble, I guess my bottom lines are:

*Government should stay out of our private lives until the point that our private lives impinge upon the private lives of others.

*Smoking does affect those around you in various ways, please be considerate of those of us who are sensitive to smoke and those of us who cover for you when you take a break.

*Just because something is legal doesn't mean that you have a right to do it in all situations. (Like drinking and driving, yelling "Fire" in a theater)

*Businesses should have the right to control what happens at their facilities. (And nowhere else!!)

I can see both sides of the fence as I smoked for 10 years. One of the best things that ever happened for me was that I quit cold turkey 4 years ago. I really dont want to tick anyone off but I can not beleive that as nurses who have gone through extensive scientific training, some ppl are still making excuses. I finally decided to post when I was someone say that the 2nd hand smoke was so insignificant to those standing around them. That is BULL. That is why if I am around my mother I get sick now. So do my kids. My mom and stepdad built a beautiful new home and put in some crazy ventilation system that is supposed to help. My sister and my 4.5 year old nephew moved in recently because she is leaving her husband. My nephew has stayed SICK since they got there.

Recently in the news there have been articles about 3rd hand smoke. I will look for a link, it is interesting.

I know Ill be called out as sitting on a "high horse" but honestly I don't care. My mom is trying to quit but my step dad who is coughing up blood everyday and can barely breath refuses to stop. It is indeed bad for you. When my mom brought my kids home after a 4 hour car ride they reeked, their bags and everything in them reeked. It isn't just a smell but the 400 carcinogens that are added to cigs embedding their microscopic selves into my kids hair, skin, and clothes.

I just hope that those who smoke consider quitting. I know it is hard. I know because I had to do it because my kids asked me too. It was one of the hardest things I have done. As I smoker I didnt realize how invasive and disgusting and how far reaching it was. Now I do. Try whatever you can to stop, I have heard very good things about a brand of cigs that is natural ie. w/out all of the chemicals added. Obviously it is still smoking but without the formaldehyde and other junk in it.

I don't think I am better than a smoker, my time to quit was just different than yours (hopefully). I just hope you can think about the fact that your well being is important to so many people! From your family to your patients and you need to be around as long as possible for both of them!.

Thank you to those smokers who are respectful of those around them. Also lets remember to not be so judgemental lets try to help those who need it. But one thing you HAVE to remember is that ppl can not and will not quit until they really are ready, it's just the nature of the beast.

Also I don't think ppl should be discriminated from a job because they smoke.

Good luck all.

Before someone asks me why I smoked if I got sick from it.......let me explain. I started smoking when I worked as a waitress and I kept getting sick from being in a smoky restaraunt so much. One of the girls there offered me a cig and told me if I started smoking I wouldnt get sick anymore. Well I shouldn't have listened but I was very naive. It worked though.

Don't you think it's hypocritical if nurses are overweight and/or are smoking when we continually tell our patients to "stop otherwise risk additional health concerns"?

I have weight to lose, not a huge amount, but it's a good amount. It's been tough to lose however the hospital was right in asking me to lose. In addition I'd feel like a jerk telling someone else to improve their lives "or else risk a,b,c" when I myself am a bit overweight.

Just my two cents ---> 00

I totally disagree with their policy. If you don't smoke, but you live with a smoker, your job can be put at risk for no reason.

This is very disturbing on a few levels. How far should a job govern a person's private life? Yes, a lot do drug testing in order to prevent someone from stealing drugs and knowing they can interfere with job performance aside from the legality of it. How does nicotine do the same? The overweight, ones that don't excerise "enough", ones over a certain age, ones living in apartments versus homes with jobs looking at stability of the worker and long term. What about those workers married or not, in child bearing age which would govern male versus female in the work place? IMO this hiring practice should be illegal.


http://www.hrrecruitingalert.com/com...is-that-legal/

Read my above post if you can find it. I have met people that have not been hired because they lived a "dangerous lifestyle" outside of work (ie: motorcycle riders and a guy who sky dived) and I have heard of those not hired because of their weight. Heck, where we work, if you smoke you go across state lines to do it and they will still follow you out and give you a "ticket" for having a cigarette if they catch you. I heard they fired someone because they were smoking. It is really getting pathetic. Exactly when did this nation become a dictatorship? I always thought that a persons personal choices should be private and seperate from work.

A couple of hospitals have started the nicotine test here too. What happens if you are on the patch or using an electronic cigarette...which is perfectly healthy and only has the nicotine but none of the chemicals? I feel sorry for smokers anymore.

...cue the lawsuits....

Honestly, I hope someone sues the pants off this hospital [or any employer who tries this] and wins a lot of money. Maybe that will teach them quite dictating what people can and cannot do in their private lives. I swear, its as if they think they "own" their employees.

[Thank God I live in California, which has enough sense to have laws against this.]

I'm told that if it comes back positive within the urine then they do a blood test to confirm. I don't think in this case, with the shortage of nurses, that they want to "stick it" to a person. They do have good programs for smokers and will reoffer the job within the designated time period of smoking cessation.

Hopefully I'm not too naive.