Smoking on Hospital Property

[htrn]

Our hospital is going to a "No Smoking Campus" in November. Our smoking employees are not happy about it and I can just imagine what our patients are going to do when we tell them they can no longer go outside to the smoking hut to smoke.

Has anyone else gone through this change at their facility and how has it gone. Any recommendations for our patients that smoke (other than quitting) to keep them from becoming beasts while in the hospital. Do your docs have nicotine patches in the standing orders for smoking patients?

[SouthernLPN2RN, MSN, RN, APRN, NP]

Playing devil's advocate here, but nurses are human just like anyone else. There are nurses who drink excessively, eat excessively, have unprotected sex, smoke, gamble, whatever.

[kids]

Our facility went smoke free this year. It hasn't worked at all. The patients are over in the employee parking lot smoking. Our facility banned smoking on ANY hospital grounds, employee cars while on grounds or on duty, all streets or sidewalks that touch the property (which they don't even own) and all property that borders hospital property. They expect normal hospital staff to approach these folks with the policy, but I for one am not going to do it. If I'm in that lot, I'm either coming to work or leaving. No way on earth I'm going to waste time arguing with patients and visitors.

A couple of years ago the only hospital in my city went non-smoking with similar rules.

Within a matter of weeks the city was involved because the driveways around and through the complex are city streets and the hospital can't regulate behavior on city property.

Then there was the little matter that under state law, the hospital couldn't prohibit employees from performing a legal activity (smoking) in their private vehicles in the parking lots if they were off the clock (lunches).

Then the people in the houses around the hospital started complaining at city councel meetings about the smokers loitering and butts on the (city owned) sidewalks.

The final blow came when it became an issue of patient satisfaction and the new hospital being built across town made it known that they would be providing smoking shelters.

The smoking ban lasted just over a year before it was modified and smoking shelters were installed in out of the way spots around the campus.

[bethin]

I say they are adults & if they want to smoke...then that's their choice....I smoke but I do not smoke during my clinical days at the hospital...I go without...simply because I think it smells disgusting on people.....& I look at it as if I were the patient...do I want my nurse coming into take care of me reeking of cigarettes?????

I agree completely. I don't smoke but at times I take my breaks with smokers. I come in reeking of smoke and I feel so unprofessional. We are all adults and make our choices. We know the risks.

Frankly, there is one nurse at work that I don't want to be around if she doesn't get a cigarette. She turns into the biggest b**** you've ever seen. Our hospital is going smoke free in October and HR is setting up a buddy system. A smoker is buddied (is that even a word?) with either a non-smoker or an ex-smoker. I think it is a great idea and I hope it works.

[Justhere, BSN, RN]

Our state passed a no-smoking ban for all hospitals. But at ours if the doctor writes an order that the patient can smoke then they can go to the court yard and smoke. But they must have that order with them or face a ticket.