Specialties Psychiatric
Published Apr 25, 2015
kiwipsychnurse
83 Posts
Hi, we went smoke free about 6 years ago with very few issues. We were expecting violence to increase but that was not the case.
Can I just get some feedback if your hospital is smoke free and which state or country you are from.
Thanks
elkpark
14,633 Posts
I was working as a psych hospital surveyor for the state of North Carolina when all the psych facilities were required to go smoke-free (in the early 2000s), so I visited all the psych units/facilities in the state in the course of my job. A lot of places were moaning and groaning in advance about how awful they expected this to be, but most places ended up having little difficulty and few problems with it. Staff and administrators at a lot of places commented later that it actually made life a lot easier for them; once a unit was entirely smoke-free as a matter of policy, it put an end to all the constant arguing and negotiating about "smoke breaks," people being so focused on when they could next have a cigarette that they couldn't pay attention in group, smoking the bathrooms, etc., etc., etc. I remember the administrators at one of the state hospitals commenting that another, unexpected, benefit of the new policy was that it cut down on a lot of the unnecessary admissions -- people (esp. Axis II people) acting out and ending up admitted to the (psych) hospital just because they were angry at a family member or partner and wanted to make a point; the administrators pointed out that, now that people in the state were aware that they wouldn't be able to smoke at all in the hospital, people were not (as the saying goes in western NC) "showing their butts" (intentionally acting out and creating a disturbance that would lead to their being brought to the psych hospital) just for the sake of making a point nearly as much as they had before.
caliotter3
38,333 Posts
Holy moly, where is this place? Want to check in as a patient! Ahh, to be able to breathe air instead of smoke!
Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN
4 Articles; 7,907 Posts
I was at a smoke-free facility before it went smoke-free. There was no increase in the incident of violence when smoking went away...then again, only patients on the open units were allowed to go on smoke breaks, and that patient population is for the most part fairly stable and at lower risk for violence. I will say that there was an initial increase in unhappy patients once the place went smoke-free, but that was expected, and eventually the complaints died down.
MrChicagoRN, RN
2,601 Posts
Every hospital in Illinois is smoke free
Thanks for the feedback. I'm in a forensic psych hospital in Auckland, NZ for the nurse that asked.
puravidaLV
396 Posts
i've work for both..one caters and one your SOL heres a patch. Smoking hospital has issues. it becomes a trigger which pt used to go off...the non smoking hospital not an issue.
smoking hospital moans about spending 1200$/mo on units....all staff just says get rid of it..
non-smoking...."wanna stick of gum"
its mostly the homeless population that complains, yet we just dont care since majority of the staff doesn't smoke.
NightOwlPsyRN
39 Posts
I work at both, a smoking hospital and a smoke-free step down. The smoke-free facility I work at is nice because clients are able to focus more on groups and treatment rather than perseverating on when they are able to smoke next, a common observation I see at my smoking hospital.
MyPrnPleaseBSN
We are also a SMOKE -FREE facility as well, Census dropped during the changes, but gradually picked back up. Prior to transfer, all patients are notified about the SMOKE FREE policy and required to sign that they were fully aware. Upon admission, nicotine patch or nicotine gum are offered :)
- Houston, TX!
femaleRN
33 Posts
We went smoke free about 6 years ago also. All the staff thought we'd have big problems with pt's being agitated and oddly enough everything turned out fine. We make sure to get nicotine patches ordered ASAP. -From the midwest
I work in similar circumstances, and I have to agree--a lot of patients are too fixated on when the next smoke break is.
NurseDimples
5 Posts
The hospital I work in now was smoke free years ago. We had special vents in Smoke Rooms and the staff who smoked would take them on a smoke break every few hours as long as their behavior was appropriate. Come break time, it always was. I could control a unit of unruly patients with a clipbord. You act out, no smoke break. Don't want to take your medication, no smoke break. Refused to follow rules, no smoke break. Needless to say patients were much more compliant and followed the rules if thieir smoke break was at risk.
Now, since we don't give smoke breaks, I can't say we out and out have more "violence". What I will say is patients become manic or irritable and need more PRN's. As a result, we just substituting Ativan and Haldol for Nicotine.
I don't smoke, but I don't judge. It "feels" like a violation of patient rights to me.