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I see nurses smoking quite often. Do you think that patients see this and wonder why we are telling them to quit? Should nurses not be allowed to smoke? I understand that nurses are stressed out, but we know that smoking is harmful. Also, do you think employers should provide help for smoking cessation rather than just insitute new policies about not smoking?

I'm a PRN smoker. :smokin:

I work 7p-7a so sometimes I do sneak out if it's a good time, and there are always other CNA's and RN's scattered in the ED parking lot smoking and looking out for the "smoke police" aka as security guards since you can not smoke on campus.

I also hate the smell of cigarette smoke, but oh well, it's always going to smell bad.

My hospital does have a smoking cessation program for employees. You just have to go through Occupational Health.

I don't think there needs to be any laws or mandates on nurses smoking. That's too much. I don't need anymore unnecessary regulations in my life.

There will always be nurses smoking.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I'm sorry to have made it sound rude, it was just something that I have noticed as a student. Many complaints have been made that nurses who smoke get more breaks than the ones that don't. I think that if there is a complaint about the ones taking more breaks, that the ones complaining should ask to take more breaks. I understand that smoking is a right, just as much as eating, drinking, exercising is. Thank you all for your comments. I like that you all agree that it should not be done around the patients. I personally do not like the smell of smoke either, but do not think less of anyone who smokes.

One thing that I was trying to say with employers offering smoking cessation help, is that if they don't want us smoking then I think they should help in some way. They should also offer help with overcoming obesity as well. But I am not trying to stir up trouble I just think that hospitals should provide healthy living habits for their employees as well as their patients.

Again, I am sorry if there was any offense taken, I really am not trying to cause any trouble, thank you for your input.

You really should have searched for previous forums on this topic. There are probably 658,324,917 previous threads on this topic. And I highly doubt as a student that you even have the time to make this observation.

Now you're bringing up obesity as well? Please use the search forum for that. You'll get all you questions answered reading the 75 gajillion posts on that.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I see your point. :) But I would like to say that from my experience, the "extra" breaks the smokers may get is leveled off pretty well by non smokers breaking to talk about what So-and-so is wearing, or "oh my gosh did you see that Gucci purse on eBay??"

I do agree w/ you that I think employers would probably get better response from employees if they were more proactive in helping w/ the process.

Riiight. Because smokers never jump in on those conversations. :roll eyes:

I'm glad I work in a non-smoking facility, where breaks are fair.

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It's not that smokers take extra breaks. It's that non-smokers (some) don't take there breaks, and smokers make it a point to take our breaks. If we don't get charting done or whatever, because we feel it is our right to actually take our breaks, then it is us smokers that stay after shift to finish charting or what not. I think that if I didn't smoke, that I couldn't be a nurse. It's what defuses me, it relaxes me, I do want to quit smoking, but right now is not the right time.

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.

OP, are you using your real name? You may want to think about changing that.

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OP, are you using your real name? You may want to think about changing that.

Yeah, really. I thought she might be a Chandra I work with.

Chandra, are you in NC by any chance?

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Specializes in Cardiac.
"should nurses not be allowed to smoke?"

i guess the bigger question is....do you want to live in a state/country that dictates your personal habits and behaviors?

what should we do about the nurses who drive over the speed limit? or who don't eat the recommended daily portions of leafy green vegetables? or who eat too much?

lock em up! throw the book at em! dirty no-good rotten nurses... :eek::uhoh3:

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I see your point. :) But I would like to say that from my experience, the "extra" breaks the smokers may get is leveled off pretty well by non smokers breaking to talk about what So-and-so is wearing, or "oh my gosh did you see that Gucci purse on eBay??"

From what I remember working on a floor with a lot of smokers, the extra breaks the smokers took were on top of talking about what so-and-so is wearing and the eBay Gucci purse.

And I have to say, a break off the floor is way different than a break in the nurses station where visitors come up and bother you. But at that job, the other non-smoker and myself just started taking our own "smoke" breaks off the floor after they got back from their smoke breaks. Good for the smoking geese is good for the non-smoking ganders.

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I'm not a smoker. Not in favor of smoking. That said....smoking is still a legal item to be purchased by adults of legal age. If that is the case it really isn't anyone business if nurses smoke, after all nurses are just people. Now where they smoke...yep. I have a right to not be exposed to it. Why do we still sell something that is know to be a killer and a danger to others? Tax dollars of course! Just my opinion.

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Riiight. Because smokers never jump in on those conversations. :roll eyes:

I'm glad I work in a non-smoking facility, where breaks are fair.

Yes. I'm aware that smokers chit chat it up too. My point of this post was to in a nutshell say from my working experience, smokers don't really get *extra* breaks. But just like the OP I'm a student too. Maybe I didn't have "time to make that observation". Riiiight.... ":roll eyes:"

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Specializes in Med surg, Critical Care, LTC.

Back when I was working in the hospital, I timed myself on several occasions. I didn't take 15 min breaks - I would start at 0700, go out for a cig at 0900 (7 min including time to walk to smoking area and back), go out for a smoke around 1100, if I was lucky I got lunch between 12-1300, out for a smoke around 1400. That was a typical shift. So, actually, I took less time on "breaks" than my non-smoking counterparts. Yes, I went out more often, but if you add up the time, I was away less from the floor.

Just food for thought.

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