Nurses and smoking

Nurses General Nursing

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  1. Is it ok for nurses and doctors to smoke?

    • 280
      Yes, Its their body.
    • 192
      No, its not very professional.
    • 54
      Other, explain

462 members have participated

Do you think it is ok if a nurse or a doctor smokes? Because i know when i go to the doctors office with my boyfriend and he tells him that he smokes that he gos on and on of how he shouldnt be smoking at all. But then we go outside and see nurses smoking and such!! So what do you guys think?

:chair: I'm already on all that stuff. I even tried Wellbrutin. Didn't work. I've been in counseling ever since my husband became disabled in 1984. As my kids would tell me when I'm giving them advise that they don't want to take, "It's my life!". :)

Let he/she whom is without sin cast the first stone. (Guess who said that?)

Thanks for the advice, it's all good! Right?:chair:

"Whatever dude" is my 2-year-old grandson's favorite thing to say, lately.

Melinda

why not ask for ativan or an SSRI or other drug, and get some counseling instead for your anxiety? I am with your kids; taking up smoking at your age is very very ill-advised. It is at any age, but in your 40s??? I guess I am missing something here.
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I really don't like the way tobacco smoke smells on smokers. I'm an ex-smoker. I try never to preach.

My hospital just made a policy that no one-visitors, staff, anyone is allowed to smoke on hospital property. I think that is very wrong. Patients are not allowed to leave the campus to smoke. Staff must cross the street to smoke.

This is to "promote healthy lifestyles" ... but what about all the fried food in the cafeteria?

I just had to respond to this one 'cause it's been burning me up that one of the best cardiac hospitals in the COUNTRY here has a McDonald's in it!!!!!

AARRRGGHHHH

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Specializes in Psychiatric.

I have never smoked...never even held a cig in my life...but I have watched my mother try to quit for the past 20 years and I can't for the life of me understand why someone now, in this day and age who knows fully well what it does to your body, would choose to do such a thing...

Really, what someone does on their own time is their own business, but I don't think it's appropriate for people to smoke at work or get 'smoke breaks' because they come in smelling like smoke, and it's not fair to other employees when someone is taking upwards of 4 breaks a day to go smoke... ? If ya wanna puff on your time, that's cool...but not on my time! lol

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I don't like to see medical professionals smoke, it seems unprofessional to me. We all know the harmful effects. How can we instruct others not to do it then do it ourselves?

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Bottom line it is everyones choice whether they want to or not, and i respect that 100 percent.

My opinion though is another matter lol. As a nurse I don't think it holds much weight to instruct say a cardiac patient on the necessity of quitting smoking because it greatly benefits health, and then go out and blaze one up. Also when I was a patient with my ulcerative colitis, nothing was more disgusting then the smell on the clothes and breath of a nurse who was in caring for me when I could barely move, after one of their smoke breaks, it was nasty.

But to each his own, it is your body, do to it whatever you choose.

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You were hiding between two parked cars like a school aged child sneaking Cig's from her parents? Jeez, if it wasn't so pathetic it would almost be funny. I'm glad the security guard saw you, at least you can feel secure that some rapist or mugger isn't going to be able to hide between cars and get away with it. So you quit that job? did you explain to your manager why you were leaving? Did you try to use this experience to help out the other employees who are staying behind that want to be able to smoke and offer the facility positive criticism to implement a smoking policy?

Were you aware of the facilities smoking ban when you accepted the position?

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Specializes in Telemetry, OR, ICU.
I really don't like the way tobacco smoke smells on smokers. I'm an ex-smoker. I try never to preach.

My hospital just made a policy that no one-visitors, staff, anyone is allowed to smoke on hospital property. I think that is very wrong. Patients are not allowed to leave the campus to smoke. Staff must cross the street to smoke.

This is to "promote healthy lifestyles" ... but what about all the fried food in the cafeteria?

:chuckle I've never heard of second hand fried food smoke :rotfl:

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Specializes in Telemetry, OR, ICU.
I don't like to see medical professionals smoke, it seems unprofessional to me. We all know the harmful effects. How can we instruct others not to do it then do it ourselves?

:yeah:

Plus, same goes for the *obese medical professionals... just pathetic.

*I'm not referring to those with legit thyroid problems.

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Specializes in Telemetry, OR, ICU.
I feel that smoking is a gross habit although it is your body it is our air and we share that. I cannot respect any nurse or doctor who can tell their patients how to be healthy, but cannot be healthy themsleves.

:yelclap:

I, too, find it difficult to respect what a person preaches, if they don't practice same, especially a medical professional. Which, is not saying I disrespect the individual... just there hypocrisy. Just like the parent that smokes & tells there adult son, or daughter they should not smoke.

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Specializes in Telemetry, OR, ICU.
The decision to smoke or not is a personal choice. It doesn't matter what line of work you happen to be in. BTW I am not a smoker. I'm sure that there are not many (if any) of us that can honestly say that we don't make choices in our lives that can have detrimental effects on our health. (i.e. alcohol, unhealthy eating, etc.) I know there has been alot of anti-smoking legislation in my area in recent years. While I can understand the rationale, it isn't illegal to smoke cigarettes and I feel that personal freedoms are being slowly taken away. If we let the government regulate what is/isn't healthy for us, your weekend cocktail or favorite meal may be next on the "for your own good" hit list.

Second hand smoke?

What about my personal freedom for smoke free air?

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Specializes in Telemetry, OR, ICU.
Well, I am a smoker, I don't wreak of ashtray, we have to smoke outside, I freshen up after my breaks...

Bottom line we have to teach, we have to preach, if our patients aren't listening to us about smoking its probably not because the nurse that was preaching smells like cigarettes its probably because the patient is just addicted to smoking as the nurse that is preaching is.

Just as I am overweight and have to tell my patient to eat right, and stay off the sweets.

Just as I have to tell teenagers to use condoms and not have premarital sex and I had a son when I was 18 out of wedlock

I'm not unprofessional, I am human, and patients can also relate to someone that doesn't have a god complex.

:crying2: ... very, very sad, and btw I don't have a God complex just because I choose not to smoke & exercise 3-4 x's/week.

I say practice what you preach, not do as I say, not as I do.

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Specializes in Telemetry, OR, ICU.
Doctors and Nurses are people too! And as a reformed smoker...yeah 16months smoke free. I do understand how totally difficult it is to quit. I loved to smoke. In fact, this very moment I could smoke one from here to the road and be totolly happy! But, sadly, I wouldn't be able to breath. Hey, I have asthma and still I smoked. Heavily. My huney still smokes, he smokes outside, and yes we are both nurses and know the risk. I just think we ought not bad mouth the smokers. It doesn't help!

:smokin: :smokin:

My wife is an ER RN... and she :smokin: ... which really gets me :angryfire

She does not smoke around me, or in our vehicles. Yet, she does smoke on the back porch. I can smell the freak'in cigarette smoke when she walks back into the house. We have to light a scented candle to help eliminate the odor.

:o

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