Smokers

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Just wondering if anyone knows why so many of us nurses smoke??? Couldn't be the STRESS could it?? At all of the places I've worked, almost all the nurses smoked, including me. Seems kind of odd being in healthcare and all.:confused:

so i guess you never sit at the desk an chit chat, just because you are a smoker?

the smokers i have worked with take more than their share of breaks, several a night for at least 10- 15 min and yes i do have to watch their patients. I hardly ever get to leave the floor, does this really sound fair? I mean if i were to leave the floor for a water or food break as much and as long as they do i am sure someone would complain. the smokers i worked with still took a long lunch usually a lunch then smoke break.

i think everyone should be held to the same rule, 2 15 minute breaks and a 30 min lunch per shift only. ones addiction should not be anothers burden?

Man, this thread is old. 'Kay, that being said, here's what I think:

Smoking is a dumb habit, but I do not feel the need nor the right to mandate/control whether or not anyone has this habit. It's their right.

I also don't care about people taking smoke breaks at work, just don't take more break time than allowed. If you want to smoke on your break, fine. If you want to pick your nose on your break, fine. I don't care. It's your time, do what you want.

If your smoke-smell is affecting your patients, you need to either be reassigned units/pts, or not smoke at work. Just like heavy perfume. If you insist on wearing heavy perfume, and it affects your patients, either stop the behavior or change jobs. I have been in situations where patients complained about very good nurses because they stunk like the bottom of a dirty ashtray. If your habit affects my work because I have to juggle the assignment due to your stench, then we have a problem. Otherwise, I don't care.

Finally, this b.s. with these states suing the tobacco companies just irks me to no end. Smokers ending up with fatal diseases due to their addiction now want somebody else to pay for their stupidity. Give me a frickin' break. It's like that group suing the fast food restaurants over their obesity. PULEEEZE. I'm fat, and I don't blame anyone but myself. It's all about being an adult. If you smoke, don't whine about lung cancer or emphysema. It's your own damn fault. I won't whine about my CVD or high cholesterol, because it's my own damn fault, and I sure as hell won't be asking congress or a lawyer to give me a fat settlement to pay for medical care I may need due to MY unhealthy lifestyle choice.

Bleah. Off soapbox. Carry on.

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Smoking stinks. Just ask my son....he will tell ya! Imagine how awful for a poor sick patient to be stuck smelling that horrid, acrid tobacco smell on his/her caregiver's hands, hair and clothes.....

and NO, contrary to what ya may think, it does NOT wash out, you can't febreeze or breathmint it away; it cloys like cheap stinky perfume. It is too bad anyone should endure this, and as a patient I would have serious issues with it. One should try to refrain from smoking while working at the hospital for their coworker's and patient's sakes. It's a matter of health and courtesy.

Specializes in Everything but psych!.

I wonder...does it take a certain personality trait to smoke? Is it environmental, or is it somewhat genetic? I know families in which everyone smokes except one. That one says they don't like the taste or the sensation. How about families in which only one person smokes?

Basically, I understand smokers. Perhaps some day they will be ready to quit. As they say, it takes practice to quit, kind of like riding a bicycle. Each time a person attempts qutting, they learn more what works and what doesn't. For those of you who don't smoke....great! For those of you who quit, I have to give you a big hug! For those of you who are still attempting...."Don't stop quitting until you've quit for good! (ACS):kiss

I have read all the replies regarding this subject and finally wanted to say something. I am a smoker but choice. No one makes me light up, no one makes me take that first or even the last drag of my cigarette. Again it is my choice. I know the dangers of smoking and choose to continue smoking at this time. Maybe later on down the road I will choose to stop again. Its my choice. As far as my voice "sounding like Bea Arthur" have any of you thought that my voice sounds this way not because I smoke but because I have scar tissue from a intubation tube that was slammed down my throat thus damaging my vocal cords? Please don't assume that all smokers voices are raspy because they smoke. Smoking does not help my voice but it is not the cause of my voice. Demi Moore does not smoke and she has a raspy voice. If you take your breaks, smoking or not, talking on the phone whatever that is your choice. Where my smoking hut is located I can still hear when the lights go off and can still get to them sometimes faster than the person who I asked to take care of my patients for me. I have to say that I very seldom smoke at work because I know that the smell stinks and my Hospice patients do not need that odor to contend with. That does not mean that I do not take my breaks when I need them. Somedays I need to just get away and take 5 to recollect myself before I go back. I do not condemn smoking nor do I agree with all of the non-smokers views. I would comment on other issues that have been brought up in this thread but that was not the original point here nor should they be continued here so please start another post for those issues if you see fit. Yes, we all know the outcome of our smoking including doctors that smoke. We all know when we tell cardiac patients they need to quit that we are being hypocrits. I respect non smokers rights by being conciderate of their intolerance to my smoking and even as a smoker I enjoy going to a restraunt where I can taste the food not the astray next to me. I really don't mind going outside. Why should my choice to smoke infringe on your right to clean air? Anyway, Back to the original thread. Nurses smoke for many reasons.... stress, social reasons, you name it but the most probable cause is choice.

originally posted by thisnurse

this argument isnt about smoking being bad for you. i think we can all agree on that. where i think we disagree is in our rights.

thats what pisses me off the most about this argument.

i smoke but i dont drink.

i want you to stop drinking. people talk about second hand smoke. in comparison how many innocent lives are lost to drunken drivers?

no one in my immediate family has died from second hand smoke that i know of, but ive lost two to drunken drivers.

i think people that drink should have to do so in a restricted area. maybe a very tiny room where they can be with other people (outcasts) who share their vice. and they should never be allowed to drive. confiscate car keys before serving them a drink.

and their breath stinks really bad.

i hate people that douse themselves in perfume. they stink.

i hate people that have body odor. they stink.

and lets talk about little kids. when i am in a store and kids are running around yelling and screaming or there is a baby who just wont shut up, and the parents wont take them out...i get a headache....its bad for my health.

lets outlaw little kids.

ridiculous or is it?

this thing about smokers taking more breaks, yeah we probably do. but you know if you want to take an extra break or two i dont have a problem watching your patients. if you want to go just walk outside and get some air, i dont have a problem helping you out...just ask me.

why hold this resentment for us?

if i asked you to watch my patients while i ran down to pick up my pay you probably wouldnt mind. its still leaving the floor and its probably the same amount of time. so why does it bother you that i smoke when i leave the floor?

because you are judgemental.

i watch anyones patients anytime. maybe im just stupid or something but i really dont care what you do when you leave the floor. but dont be *****ing about me behind my back. if you want the same amount of breaks as i have then take them!!

im not talking about taking advantage...thats an entirely different subject.

as for smokers throwing butts out the window...thats ignorant. you see lots of cigarette butts, how many beer cans/bottles do you see on the sides of the road. ignorance and bad manners are not exclusive to smokers you know.

i have to agree with all that you have said. i am a smoker and resent the bull that we have to put up with regarding smoking. yes, i go and have a smoke break, only when i am on break though. as said earlier, there are other things that affect our world and others "space"..........perfume, a big culprit. i can't stand it and often get a headaches from the odor from it. should perfume be banned in the workplace? maybe. i don't throw my cig butts out the window, i don't litter period!

i believe that many have stated that they resent the time smokers take??? also, as stated before, many of my coworkers take longggggggggg breaks/ are always on the phone or disappear to who knows where, so who are they to complain if i go on a cig break during my lunch or my breaks? it is my time, i do not so on smoke break and then come back and take another break, yet many lag around for 20 minutes or more and then state, "i'm going on break"..........ummmm, what were you on the past 20 minutes? i also agree with the posts regarding alcohol. how many alcohol related deaths/accidents are there? maybe we should ask our goverment, "why isn't alcohol heavily taxed"? everyone knows that alcohol consumed regularly not only unhealthy and leads to a multiple number of health related issues but it kills people. oh yeah, btw, i hate the smell of fish with a passion.!!!!!!!!!! maybe restaurants can have a fish only section? perfume area only? give us smokers a break! i also find many statements outright emotionally abusive. you know the ones, "what are you having nicatine withdrawel", "where are you going to have a cig?" well, actually it's none of your business, but since you are asking, "is that your second or third drink?", or "yuck, you reek of some god awful perfume"............lol..........what a topic here. bottom line it is my right to smoke or not to smoke, i don't need anyones comments.

jude:(:smokin: :smokin: :smokin: :smokin:

I smoke rarely(I used to be a big smoker) but try not to do it at work. I feel like such a hippocrite.

I totally agree that nicotine is probably the most powerful addiction there is. I speak from my own experience. Had already started to smoke before I became a nurse. Smoked for 35 years, and tried numerous times to quit. I finally had to quit before my spine surgeon would do a lumbar fusion. I used Nicorette Gum and Welbutrin, and was finally successful.

One year later, as I was getting ready to have the surgery, my preop chest xray showed a lesion on one lobe of my lung. Further studies (CT scan) showed enlarged nodes in the mid chest. Bottom line--diagnosed with Stage IIIA NSCLC. I was treated with chemotherapy and high dose radiation. That was during the summer of 1998. Four years later, I continue to remain cancer free. Naturally, I have never had another cigarette. If I get really stressed out, I start using Nicorette Gum to satisfy the craving. I am so grateful that I had that chest xray when I did, or I probably wouldn't be writing this post.

it is your right to smoke and that don't bother me as long as i dont have to inhale it and you don't take more breaks than allowed. but where i have worked with smokers this is not the case. the last smoker i worked with went outside every hour and was gone for atleast 1o minutes each time. but also never missed a lunch she would eat come back then go smoke. and by the way she also talked on the phone and to others while on floor just like other nurses do. That is not just a nonsmoker trait! just brought that up because it was mentioned a couple of times in this tread as if it was an equalt to the smokers break time. both groups still talk and use the phone while that might be an issue for the hospital it is not an issue relavent to this conversation as it does not separate the 2 groups.

as far as the lawsuits against tobacco companies that is ridiculous they did not hold a gun to your head and make you smoke ,just like alcohol companies dont force you to drink, and fast food companies dont force you to eat ttheir high fat food. i am over weight my self and have only myself to blame.

good Q momrn. im still studying and im smoking like crazy!!! not sure why so many do but i have noticed that myself. could be stress, could be case of do as i say not as i do, maybe cause they reckon that there are more females than males that smoke, may give nurses something to do in their break, could be a social thing. for me personally it gives me an opportunity to have time out for 5 mins when i have assignments to do and it is a social thing during breaks etc. not sure if that is a valid reason or not but thats my excuse and im sticking to it ;) lol

Dennie-

I like your long posts. Love the way you put words together.

I don't have a problem with parenthetical comments either.

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