Smoking

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  1. How many nurses smoke?

    • 91
      Yes, and I don't hide the fact.
    • 52
      Yes, but I sometimes feel guilty being a nurse who smokes.
    • 14
      Yes, but I don't advertise the fact at work.
    • 21
      Yes, but I don't smoke while I'm at work.
    • 6
      Yes, but not cigarettes...heheheh
    • 46
      No, but to each his own.
    • 48
      No, I think it's unprofessional for nurses to smoke.
    • 114
      No, but I realize that nurses are human too and have their vices.

392 members have participated

Just curious to know how many nurses smoke (or at least admit to it)!

I have been wanting to quit. Need to quit, but once again, the smoke break is the only way to get away for a few minutes and say hi to other workers. Be thankful for each day, we may not have another one.

I hope you and the other nurses really try your hardest to quit. I smoked for about 15 years and finally quit when I became pregnant. It's been 5 great smoke free years. I watched my father in law die of throat canccer while I was pregnant which probably kept me from smoking again. I tell ya, if you saw how you can very realistically DIE because of those sick disgusting cancer sticks that make those companies rich! I think you would quit. Don't let those cigarette companies get rich off you dieing. You really could live longer if you quit. If you love life then quit, as hard as it is. Oh, It did take awhile to get used to being a non smoker. It was hard during breaks etc, but the longer I was smoke free the better it was, and now.........IT'S GREAT

GOOD LUCK

;)

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Originally posted by xited2bnurse

II tell ya, if you saw how you can very realistically DIE because of those sick disgusting cancer sticks that make those companies rich! I think you would quit. \;)

DO YOU THINK THOSE OF US THAT HAVE BEEN NURSES FOR SOME TIME HAVEN'T SEEN THE DEVASTATION THAT SMOKING CAN CAUSE? OF COURSE WE HAVE, AND YET FOR SOME OF US EVEN THAT DOESN'T MAKE US ABLE TO QUIT JUST YET!

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I also began smoking just to get a "break". That was 6 years ago. It was the only way to get my "fifteen minutes"--I'm slowly trying to wean myself off of them. It's not an easy thing to do. Now I associate time away from the floor with cigarettes, it's a hard habit to break.

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Oh god, I am wracked with guilt, every time I get back on the ward from a quick break I sit beside my oldtimers who are struggling to breathe with their obstructive pulmonary disease and I can feel the constriction of my own tissues as they fight the chemicals I have just dragged through them. On other days I give chemo to people who have puffed merrily for 30 or so years, or if they are really unfortunate, maybe only 10 yrs or so. On other days I set up NIV for people who can barely draw breath because of Type 2 Respiratory failure, and then some nights I titrate their BiPap so that they get the most out of it they can.

Through all this I continue to puff happily, knowing that I will one day be in the same situation, if I am lucky I may escape the MI and the coronary stents but I have a feeling I wont. Some of us are just unlucky. Yes we have free Quitlines here, but still that doesn'y help me throw these ugly sticks in the bin, addiction is harder for some of us to deal with than it is for others, and I for one am hopelessly adddicted to this rubbish. It would please me immensely if someone would just ban the damn stuff. But then, our healthcare sysytem would go to pot ( so to speak), the revenue gained from smokers helps to pay my wages, so catch 22 aint it !!

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Originally posted by webbiedebbie

I enjoy going to the butt hut and meeting others working in the hospital.

I'm alittle late in responding to this poll, but I have to laugh about the butt hutt. We have one too, call it the smokehouse. Now I was just thinking about this smoking hut thing. You go out to smoke in this hut. It has, well at least ours does, benches and ash trays all around and a BIG exhaust fan, which makes me think...hmmmmm...I go outside to have a smoke in the smokehouse and they suck the smoke out of the smokehouse with an exhaust fan...Then what is the point of the smokehouse? I could smoke under an umbrella if it was raining...Sheesh, what a waste of money!

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I have to say, I hate myself for smoking. But what I hate more is being labeled by some as a second-class citizen for doing so. Many non-smokers think you can just say no and not smoke anymore. I wish. I was going into a store the other day, stopped to put my butt in the ashtray outside the door, and some stranger proceeds to tell me how my habit will kill me. I am not a violant person, but if he would have said one more thing to me after I told him, "If I want your opinion, I'll ask for it" I think I would have knocked him on his butt. Our state, like most of yours I'm sure, got a mass amount of money from the tobacco companies. It was to be paid over 20 years. One would think the state would use that money to help those who want to quit by maybe offering free quit smoking classes or free patches. But no, they sold that money short (10 cents on the dollar) to an investment company and then used that money to balance the state budget for a year. A private personal injury attorney that was hired to help get the award was paid 3 million for his efforts. Geez, I'm so worked up now, I need a cigarette!

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Smoker for 8 years now. Strange to say, but I can't stand the smell of smoke on my hands. I wash as soon as I'm done. I want to quit, but don't have the.....I don't know, NERVES to stop. I keep thinking about gaining weight if I quit. Eventually I will stop with prayer and help from God and his help I will definately need. Congrats to those whom have kicked the habit and good luck to those want to!

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yeap l smoke too, l've tried many times to give up, usually last 4 months then fail

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I guess I just have to respond to this...

My half-sisters mom just died April 14 from terminal lung cancer, she was diagnosed two months prior to that....that is how fast it moved, surrounded her inner organs, and went into her brain, paralyzing her left side....

She, of course, smoked for years...my sister always hated it - and she never took up the habit

But now her mom is gone, at 54, and left behind a grandson - because of smoking...

Sad world, amazing how quickly some cigarettes can destroy it

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2004/April/16/robit/stories/01robit.htm

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I have been struggling with cigarettes for years..ive quit several times, only to pick them up again. I have now been cigie free for about 3 wks....and Im gonna do it this time....I have too...asthma is killing me...

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Specializes in Telemetry & Obs.

i'm sorry...i'm very sensitive to smoke and there's not enough handwashing, perfume, gum, etc that can mask that smell :o

i also don't wear perfume, hair products, etc that have a smell when i'm around patients..

sorry, just had to respond and represent some of the non-smokers :)

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Gave up recently, not easy, however I have so much energy I dont know why. I used to put off so many things until later, spend longer at my coffee lingering over my cigarette. Now I want to go, go go. Its really amazing. Hope I can keep this up

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