Smoking ban

[NannaNurse]

The healthcare corp I work for has decided to ban smoking at all of it's facilities.....no smoking by anybody, anywhere on the grounds.......No smoking for patients.....I actually think they shouldn't.....none for the doctors, nurses, none for visitors, expectant family members, etc, etc.....We've even been told that there will be No smoking in cars or in the parking lot.

I'm a former smoker, but I still believe that if a person wants to smoke, it's their life and they should have a place to do so.......even if it is in their own cars.

Other hospitals in the metro area are starting to capatalize on this idea by advertising that they 'have new & improved smoking areas'. I work with alot of nurses/doctors who smoke and they are all talking about a 'smoke out' day........like a blue flu day..........

What are your opinions about this???

[Dayray, RN]

Wow

I smoke, I don't justify it or try to say that other people just need to deal with it. I do wear a jacket when I go out to smoke so it doesn't stick to my cloths and have mapped out the quickest routes to exits where i can smoke 3-5 min (yeah I've timed it). I don't take a lunch break so that no one feels I'm getting more then my fair share of brakes.

I am truly glad that anti-smokeing campaigns have been so effective. My children have been taught not to smoke from the time they started school heck from the time they first turned on public television. I am really grateful for that.

I agree with the anti-"smoking" attitude but I continue to be amazed at the

anti-"smoker" attitude. It has become more then a health concern. People are truly offended not just by the smell of smoke or the presence of second hand smoke but by the very fact that someone smokes.

I'm careful not to smell like smoke for the sake of my patient (who are forced to be near me). When someone sees me outside or going outside they are usually surprised that I actually smoke (because I don't smell like smoke). Yet I have noticed that once someone finds out, it sometimes effects my relationship with them. People are angry at smokers.

I am not a casual smoker, I started 16 years ago and have been addicted ever since. Many people tell me they quit "cold turkey" and that i should too but when asked how much they smoked or how long I generally hear 1 or 2 years or that they smoked 5 cigs a day or only when they drank. If I could go 12 hours without a cigarette I would but heck if I could do that I could just quit all together.

So is this complete smoking ban fair? I'm not sure, I guess it depends on what basis you judge it by.

This ban is not just aimed to reduce others exposer to smoke it's aimed at forcing people not to smoke. Which flys in the face of personal choice of employees as well as patients.

However, although I smoke I really wish I didn't or for that matter that I had never started. Bans like this make it allot harder to smoke or to start smoking so in a larger view I guess they are good.

Whatever your opinion you simply must see this an attempt to make people stop smoking, it's not to reduce exposure to second hand smoke or butts on the ground. It's to make people stop smoking.