Taking patients outside to smoke?

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

An RN accompanied some patients outside to smoke. It was cold and raining. They were under a patio cover.

Is this common for a detox/rehab unit?

I work critical care and telemetry.

[Guest321574]

I can't say if its common, but we do this where I work. Its a part of the daily schedule. Actually the psych techs do the smoke breaks. The rehab unit is voluntary, so they are just outside, with no walls/fences. I doubt that rain/cold would be an issue, they are chomping at the bit to get to their smoke breaks.

[Saifudin]

I recently left a position as DON in addiction and mental health facility in Saudi Arabia. I was there 14 years. Never worked in addiction practice in the States. However, in our facility in Saudi, our addiction units had gardens for patients to go to, specifically for smoking. Most patients in addiction centers are stable and ambulatory so going to an outside area is not a problem, unless they have other underlying or co-existing conditions that would make going outside, particularly in poor weather a relative contraindication. Here in Saudi, when it rains, it is an event and most people, especially the Saudis rush to go outside, especially to desert areas. The smell of rain is such a wonderful change.

[Bel-USA]

Where I work, patients are not allowed to leave the unit for the length of their stay. Thus smoking is out of question (+ we are located on a teaching campus, so smoking is not allowed around the hospital).

[elkpark]

I've been in psych nursing forever, and this used to be v. common/routine practice. However, in my state, all the psych facilities (and all other hospitals) have gone entirely tobacco-free in the last several years, so that is now (thankfully!) a thing of the past.

[sasha2lady]

If the facility allows smoking then its kosher. We do it where I work. Right now we have only 2 residents that smoke but its under a covered patio.

[chenoaspirit, ASN, RN]

I had a patient sneak out to smoke after a TURP surgery and a wide open CBI with blood loss. I should have wheeled him outside to smoke, but I was so busy. I told him I would, but to give me a few minutes. He went without me, fell, and busted his head open on a drain. Next thing I knew, I was receiving a call from the ER that they were sending my patient up in a C Collar after all tests were finished. Now, our hospital is smoke-free, but the patients go to the side of the street to smoke. I think if a patient pays such high prices to be there, then they should have the right to smoke. I would always take them down to smoke in a wheelchair. But honestly, I dont know know how safe it was. If something happened while outside, I would have felt awful. But I tried to understand how stressful it was for them to want a cigarette. I smoke too and I know how it feels.

[Ekstasis]

My clients can go outside at will unless they are unsteady on their feet/seizure-risk. I am actually smelling one smoking with the door open as I type this. Always something to do. )