% of Nurses that smoke

[twinner05]

I have been working in the medical field for a few years and I was very surprised to find the number of nurses and other healthcare workers that smoke. I found this statistic on a few different websites that I found interesting.

"the number of registered nurses who smoked dropped from 11 percent in 2007 to 7 percent in 2011, the study found. That's an overall decrease of 36 percent, and nearly three times higher than the 13 percent decline in smoking among the general population during the same period."

[AliceTrout]

I was a closet smoker all through nursing school and it was a source of a lot of stress. I refused to smoke in scrubs before or after my rotations, just because I was so concerned the smell would cling to the material and offend my patients. I knew that smoking was a choice I made for myself, but I felt/feel very strongly that it is inappropriate for a nurse to smell of smoke while treating patients with respiratory problems and/or who cannot smoke themselves during their hospitalization. How could a patient or their family take smoking cessation education seriously from me if I smelled like smoke? For me it was an ethical line in the sand I would not cross.

In addition to that, my classmates and faculty had a very nasty attitude toward the 'known' smokers that absolutely terrified me they would discover my secret. Smoker or non-smoker, nobody should be as judgmental and cruel about a personal decision as they were toward smokers, period. It accomplishes nothing positive - but I digress.

The day after graduation I quit smoking. I recognized that my life was in a place of new beginnings and I wanted to start on the right foot. Washing the shame/angst/anxiety/effort/expense/time of my closet smoking has been a tremendous relief and after that first few days, I haven't looked back!! I thought I would have a hard time finding a replacement for the stress management I thought smoking gave me - but now I realize that smoking caused at least as much stress as it relieved!!

I fully understand quitting isn't as easy for everyone, but you never know what you are capable of until you try!

[DiplomaNurseRN]

When I started in nursing it seemed EVERYBODY smoked. I remember well the ashtrays in the nursing lounge filled with butts and half burning cigarettes, the physcians lighting up at the nurse's station and, as long as they were not on oxygen, patients and family members burning one in the patient rooms. It was a different time... one of starched white uniforms, polished shoes and caps, timing IV flows with a wristwatch (no pumps then), glass IV bottles you had to vent with an 18 ga. needle, mixing your own piggy backs, pouring meds from large bottles into med cups, carrying narcotics keys around your neck, rotating bp cuffs, leather restraints and 'Brompton's Cocktail' .... having to actually use your eyes, ears and nose as part of a nursing evaluation ....

[nervousnurse, ASN]

With vaping / e-cigs being so popular now, I'm curious---do hospitals and other healthcare facilities allow this in designated

areas? I used to "survive" my shifts with nictotine gum! I was SO

thankful for that gum----but the more stressful the shift, the more my jaw would hurt after!

We used to work with a wonderful doctor who would occasionally sneak a ciggie in the STAIRWAYS!!!! I guess he got

away with it because it was only in the late evening, and the "suits" weren't around?