Smokers in Nursing School--How Are You Treated?

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:smokin: I am a smoker :smokin: (I know, I know), and I am in my third semester of nursing school. Often, especially at clinicals, my fellow smokers and I are looked upon as common criminals. Always, there is some sort of smoking ban on hospital property, therefore, we pariahs must go to a designated location which is usually far away, across the street, in a dangerous neighborhood. Is anyone else feeling like a leper for engaging in a legal activity?
Specializes in LTC.

ah ! Here we go again....

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.
can anyone find demographics of smokers? i'm willing to bet that they tend to be from disadvantaged backgrounds and have less education. perhaps including smoking bans we need to improve people's economic situations and work towards socioeconomic and racial equality.

i agree! my husband volunteers with two brothers who are now ten and eleven. when he began working with them, they were six and seven and were absolutely obsessed with the idea of being old enough to smoke, drink and xxxx the proper name for a dog's mother(s). there has been a great change! now they're being told it's unhealthy, uncool, gross etc. my husband has reinforced this and taken them to visit one of our elderly neighbors. he is a retired surgeon who smoked for more then four decades and

goes nowhere without his oxygen. when the kids saw him tending roses tethered to his backpack of o2,

it really made a big lasting impression on them. their dad and grandpa ended up quitting because the boys were so shaken up by what they saw.

i think a large part of the solution is to reinforce what kids learn in school, is to get as many as possible into afterschool programs, scouts, bb&bs, sports, academic enrichment and gifted programs. make sure they can read at grade level! i volunteer at a local elementary school 3x week. kids in grades 1-3 read aloud to me, i give any needed prompts, help with math (i'm an absolute whiz at 1-3 math:d) then i read to them. if you can't read, you'll be stuck forever.

my husband's kids have changed. before all they looked forward to were "beers, b****es, b**bs and

smoking." oh, and riding a harley hog someday. now they get a's and b's in school and want to go to college. they think smoking is bad.

their dropout dad is working again and has quit drinking and smoking. not perfect, but quite an accomplishment, i'd say!

what i think says a lot is that the adults i tutor in an adult literacy program all smoke heavily (almost to a person) and by the time they complete the program, virtually all have quit. it's a start. being able to read at a functional level really instills power in someone who couldn't before. i think many people begin smoking for one of two reasons: too look cool and/or fit in with friends, or frustration with their job or lack of one.

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Specializes in School Nursing.
The hospitals that are smoke-free not only require staff to smoke elsewhere (if not at all), but also the patients and visitors. [i know I'm going to get slammed for this] I think this is wrong for non-staff and non-critically ill patients. If one is a hospice patient and dying, and he/she wants to go outside and smoke, why not?

I actually agree with allowing hospice patient to have a cigarette is he or she so chooses. However, it should be in consideration of others.

As far as providing 'smoking areas' to visitors and non-staff.. why should any hospital have to do this? We can't even get most places to offer a place for breastfeeding mothers, yet they should provide smokers with accommodations? No. Smoking is not in the bill of rights.

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.
i actually agree with allowing hospice patient to have a cigarette is he or she so chooses. however, it should be in consideration of others.

as far as providing 'smoking areas' to visitors and non-staff.. why should any hospital have to do this? we can't even get most places to offer a place for breastfeeding mothers, yet they should provide smokers with accommodations? no. smoking is not in the bill of rights.

if i could give you 100 more kudos, i would!

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

You know what makes me THE most upset about smokers. Thinking the world is their ashtray and flicking the butts where ever they so choose.

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Specializes in Critical Care (ICU/CVICU).

At our school, smokers aren't treated differently. Although in lecture, when smoking is mentioned as a risk factor for the MANY disease processes that are discussed, they tend to be kind of singled out and playfully teased among our classmates. But I guess that's the price to pay for choosing such a horrible habit.

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I smoke socially and I would never smoke in my clinical uniform or around my nursing classmates - I'd rather not make an issue out of it. I don't have a problem going 8+ hours without a cigarette and even if I did, we're not allowed to smoke in our clinical uniforms.

Having been a patient and an SN at several local healthcare facilities I am continuously surprised at how UNhealthy the food served in hospital cafeterias is. That's what I'd really like to see changed!

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My dad was a smoker, some of my friends are, and most of my coworkers have been smokers. I don't know what it is but cops, firemen, and EMTs are chain smokers, lol, and those are the people I've always worked most around. I've never actually smoked anything, lol. I chose the spit tobacco route although I never got habituated to it and don't buy it. I used to occasionally bum it off other people. I haven't used it since Jan. 2008.

Anyway, now that I'm back in college I find the nursing instructors and some of the nursing students routinely making fun of the smokers in my class and using them as examples of poor health. I couldn't care less if they smoke personally. However, if I was the smoker and had to listen to that crap I'd put an end to it. What particularly gets me is when a couple of the non-smoking fat***es in class try to make fun of one of the girls that smokes yet works out and runs.

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ImThatGuy, I completely agree with you on your last point - definitely the pot calling the kettle black. :uhoh3:

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To the OP:

I'm sorry you're being made to feel like a pariah for a habit, but I can imagine your fellow nursing students questioning your commitment to working/serving in a health care profession when your habit is clearly one that is harmful to your own health. I've never smoked but understand it to be one of the hardest habits to break. I hope you'll consider yourself to be your first patient and do the best you can to take care of your own health by quitting. Your patients will appreciate being cared for by a healthy and able nurse.

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To the OP:

I'm sorry you're being made to feel like a pariah for a habit, but I can imagine your fellow nursing students questioning your commitment to working/serving in a health care profession when your habit is clearly one that is harmful to your own health. I've never smoked but understand it to be one of the hardest habits to break. I hope you'll consider yourself to be your first patient and do the best you can to take care of your own health by quitting. Your patients will appreciate being cared for by a healthy and able nurse.

I don't think the person is at all in question with his/her commitment to healthcare. Geez. Out of the two dozen respiratory therapists I've known I bet only one didn't smoke. Guess what they do all day? Provide healthcare to smokers, lol. Exaggeration but point made.

Do you ever eat fried food, cheeseburgers, or perhaps a Snickers?

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Interesting perspective. Yes, smoking has negative consequences, and everyone is aware of the health problems associated with smoking. But I think your comment about one "should be able to make it through a shift without having to smoke" is too superficial. For many people, it's not that easy because smoking is an addiction. As a nurse, I hope you wouldn't expect an alcoholic or a heroin addict to abstain from using for 8-12 hours. They would be going out of their minds! Why should a smoker have to go an entire shift without a cigarette?

Most people start smoking at a young age. At 14, 15, 16, etc. do you think kids are all that concerned with the potential health problems that could occur down the line? Probably not. Before long, they are addicted.

Im fessing up to being a smoker.:down: Im still in school.. I have to tell you I am quitting.:mad:.. I can't stand it. What did it for me was seeing a patient barely able to breathe with pulmonary disease, dying:crying2:.. I know I have to start somewhere. I do not smoke when I am in school. I do not smoke at all during clinicals because people have allergies, it stinks and I am very self conscious about how I smell to other people. So far, I have quit smoking for most of the day. I don't even smoke inside my house. I step outside... I don't smoke around other people. Yes, smoking is a very nasty habit..So please don't take smoke breaks at the hospital and then hover over a patient:eek:that is just nasty, selfish and very inconsiderate..

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