NICOTINE TAR CONTAINS OVER 4000 CHEMICALS including ammonia, formaldehyde, orificenic, butane, hydrogen cyanide, lead, mercury, vinyl chloride, methane AND vast quantities of carbon monoxide.
Nicotine is a colorless, odorless, organic-based alkaloid in the same family as cocaine, morphine, quinine and strychnine. It is a super toxin. Now I know it is legal and so is alcohol, but how can this be allowed in the workplace. It has to effect judgement. please I need feedback, because I have a hard time with this at work.
Unfortunately (among other reasons) that smell is pretty distinctive and strong as well.
My husband uses chewing tobacco . . .used to be Copenhagen but now that it is about $7 a can, he buys the cheap stuff. He puts it under his front upper lip. So when he smiles, you see it. And his breath is not good either.
Blech . . . .
I did date a man . . .oh . . 27 years ago. (wow, amazing that it has been that long). He smoked but was very cautious about it. Always smoked away from me. Brushed his teeth a lot. Nice guy.
I visited a friend's house where they had brought their Grandma home to die of lung CA. She would take her mask off long enough to smoke and put it back on. All the family were sitting around the room smoking right next to the O2 tank.
I was just sure I'd be in the paper for the house explosion!
My dad smoked 2 cartons a week when I was growing up and it never bothered me. I had to have my husband switch to dip, though, because I have developed asthma as an adult.
Kind of strange, but when my dad died (alcohol) his autopsy showed a perfect set of lungs. I remember them saying something to my mom about him not smoking and she was like "are you kidding me, he was a chimney!". The doc couldn't believe it.
showed a perfect set of lungs. I remember them saying something to my mom about him not smoking and she was like "are you kidding me, he was a chimney!". The doc couldn't believe it.
And this is exactly the excuse that many smokers give for either taking up the habit in the first place or not giving up - but believe me, they are the VERY LUCKY minority! Why take the risk?
This may sound ridiculous, but this thread has actually given me the last push I needed to quit. My SO (we live together) smokes too, and we've been talking about quitting for a long time. I've tried to quit in the past, but its been really hard with him still smoking. So I convinced him to quit with me and we set a date 2 weeks from today. He is going to try out the gum and I'm thinking about the patch. In the past I quit cold turkey and was a wreck for a good solid week before any of the w/d symptoms subsided.
I figure that I know its horrible for me and I'm truly worried about dying from smoking related diseases (and SO too), even though I don't smoke in the same room with my kids, I do smoke inside on another level of the house at night (outside during the day), which really, probably is not shielding them from second hand smoke, I know I must stink and I'm embarrassed about the fact that I smoke to begin with. I'm a ADN student now, graduating in May and I'd been putting it off until then and after we move on June 1, but theres always going to be some excuse not to quit. Better to quit now, start gaining the benefits and spare myself the nic fits on 12 hour shifts. :cheers:
A lot of smokers where I work carry small bottles of Febreeze with them. After they smoke, they spray themselves with it, chew mint gum and wash their hands. You cannot even tell they smoke.
Other smokers don't do any of these things and they reek from ten feet away.
I do appreciate it when smokers go to the effort to deodorize themselves so that they are pleasant to be near.
carry small bottles of Febreeze with them. After they smoke, they spray themselves with it, chew mint gum and wash their hands.
I do appreciate it when smokers go to the effort to deodorize themselves so that they are pleasant to be near.
Isn't this just wasting more money and time? Why would you bother? I think the smell of chewing gum and cigarette smoke together is often WORSE than the cigarette smoke on it's own. And as for the Febreeze, isn't that a furniture/carpet deoderiser? How stupid do these people feel spraying this stuff on themselves??
Personally, I do think it affects judgement...many times last year, smoking workers were allowed to take numerous "smoke breaks" downstairs and outside....allowing fewer nurses and techs on floor, sometimes for up to 30 mins 3x a night.....If their IV went off, a patient wanted a med, etc...what am I supposed to tell em? Oh, well you're nurse went to go smoke...you'll get that pain med in about 1/2 a hour....
Also, what a image problem....you pull up in the ambulance and are greeted by 4-5 nurses/workers/etc....standing by the ER doors smoking, as you go in by strecher...and you wind up on their floor....
TG IL made public places smoke-free.....the entire hospital campus is smoke free for me...no smoking on any part of the property..you have to drive off-site to do it....
Yea I meant the chemicals don't impair a person's judgement in the sense that alcohol does, but obviously deciding to go outside and have a smoke break when you have patients (and other nurses) depending on you to do your job is poor judgement. I have nothing against smokers but anyone who puts their work off on other people is not someone I'd want to work with.
Isn't this just wasting more money and time? Why would you bother? I think the smell of chewing gum and cigarette smoke together is often WORSE than the cigarette smoke on it's own. And as for the Febreeze, isn't that a furniture/carpet deoderiser? How stupid do these people feel spraying this stuff on themselves??
Nat.
Actually dude, the active ingredient in Febreze is a cyclic oligosaccharide ring (cyclodextrin) that binds up hydrophobic compounds such as cigarrette smoke, poo, grandma's putrid urine on your brand new couch (personal experience with that one), damn near any foul smelling odor. You can use it on almost anything. I spray it on myself in the morning when I don't feel like taking a shower. The ladies LOVE it!
When I worked in an ICU many years ago, we (non-smokers) occasionally joked with the smokers, "there is a 7200 with your name on it."Most of them still smoke, but a few have quit. Where I currently work, a large number of staff throughout the place have quit smoking. Maybe they have seen far too many end-stage COPD'ers in their 40's-50's die right there.
I know of a nurse who quit by using the hourly calendar to mark an "X" for every hour she did not smoke. After a few days of 24 X's per day (sleeping hours are a freebie, but they count!), she went to a daily calendar and did likewise. At the same time, she put all the money she would have spent into a jar and deposited the money into a savings account for a year. That money was applied to a down payment on a new convertible, and that was when smokes were a heck of a lot cheaper.
It amazes me that nurses, RT's, and other members of the healthcare profession smoke knowing what it does to their lungs. However, this is a free country and people who want to smoke have every right to do so but I in return have every right not to be sujected to their smoke.
My state has recently gone smoke-free. How nice it is not to have the smell of smoke surrounding me when I'm trying to enjoy a nice meal.
The hospital I work for will go smoke-free 6-1-08. No smoking will be allowed anywhere on campus nor in the employees personal car. I am interested to see how this is going to work. Some of the smokers are already on Chantix (which the hosp is helping to pay for) and doing well. Others say they won't quit smoking. We'll see....:icon_roll
Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN
11,305 Posts
My husband uses chewing tobacco . . .used to be Copenhagen but now that it is about $7 a can, he buys the cheap stuff. He puts it under his front upper lip. So when he smiles, you see it. And his breath is not good either.
Blech . . . .
I did date a man . . .oh . . 27 years ago. (wow, amazing that it has been that long). He smoked but was very cautious about it. Always smoked away from me. Brushed his teeth a lot. Nice guy.
steph