Stopping patients smoking

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · May 24, 2013

Personally, I do not think there's any effective way to deter patients from smoking. It is one of the most addictive habits in existence due to the nicotine, and one must be ready to stop smoking on his own. No one, not even the nursing staff, will bring a patient to this epiphany. If you think about it, a one-pack-a-day smoker has an addition level that drives him to light up every 45 minutes to one hour, assuming he's awake 16 hours per day and smoking 20 cigarettes (one pack) in a 24 hour period. Admission to a hospital is not going to make this level of addiction disappear into thin air.

SaoirseRN · May 24, 2013

The worst time to quit is when a person has something stressful going on in their lives, and that includes any sort of hospital stay. At times that stress can be a motivation -- an MI, for example -- but most often people just aren't in the right place to stop. I don't think anyone should smoke, but there's a time and a place to quit. All we can do is offer replacement therapy and support, but only if they want it. I can't make someone quit, only they can do that, and only at the right time.

babyNP., APRN · May 25, 2013

I remember patients wanted to be wheeled outside to smoke and we'd have to wait outside with them, when I was a tech. I refused because I wasn't about to put my health on the line for someone's bad habits.

Twinmom06, ASN, APN · May 25, 2013

I don't work in rehab but the hospital I currently work in prescribes a nicotine patch for any smoker while they're in the hospital...

loriangel14, RN · May 25, 2013

There is no smoking allowed on the grounds of the place where I work. In order to smoke you have to go a long way to reach the road allowance out front by the highway.Mnay of our patients are prescribed nic patches.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · May 25, 2013

You can't.

I hear you - I used to shake my head at the vets at the VA hospital smoking through the trachs earned via their head and neck/throat CA...

babyNP., APRN · May 25, 2013

Well, I have no problem with people smoking if that's what they truly want to do, being fully aware of the risks and dangers. It's not my job to police their behaviors. I just become disgruntled when their behavior affects my health.

After all, they're consenting, able-minded adults. My grandfather has CHF, but loves his salt. If he wants salt on his potatoes and costs him a year or two of his life but he knows that and wants that, sure, by all means. I can encourage him not to, but far be it from me to treat him like a child. When I'm his age, I'd expect just the same from my future grandchildren (although I probably wouldn't choose what he does!)

That being said...I think it would be harder for me to tolerate in reality, which is why I've exclusively been a RN to infants. Their crying doesn't bother me. Adults whining and making harmful choices to their lives would.

Novo · May 25, 2013

There is no smoking allowed on the grounds of the place where I work. In order to smoke you have to go a long way to reach the road allowance out front by the highway.Mnay of our patients are prescribed nic patches.

As I was leaving the hospital today I saw at least six people smoking right next to the entrance and there were huge signs everywhere that said "No smoking on AHS property"

-_-"

arnwest · May 25, 2013

This is quite a controversial topic. I fully support allowing patients to make their own choices, including their right to leave hospital property to smoke. It's the patient's body; he or she has the right to do with it as he or she pleases. However, this isn't a personal rights issue when people aren't paying for their own healthcare. This issue extends to every health decision a person makes, especially considering the ongoing reformation. Simply put, if the public is paying for someone's hospital bill, then the public should decide what health habits the patient is subject to (like limiting soft drink sizes). If the patient is paying, then let him or her do what he or she wants. I'm getting off onto my socialized medicine rant here, but that's the controversy, at least as far as I'm concerned.

Garethaus · May 25, 2013

Simply put, if the public is paying for someone's hospital bill, then the public should decide what health habits the patient is subject to (like limiting soft drink sizes).

Yeah but since the patients presumably pay their taxes too, they're paying for their own hospital bill in that shared system. They're also the public you write of.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · May 25, 2013

I don't work in rehab but the hospital I currently work in prescribes a nicotine patch for any smoker while they're in the hospital...

I work at a freestanding rehab hospital, and while we also prescribe nicotine patches to patients who are smokers, the situation can turn explosive when they insist on smoking while wearing the patch (read: chest pain, palpitations, etc.). So if they're going to smoke during their inpatient stay, we simply do not apply the patch for their own safety.