Smoking bans backfiring at some hospitals: Study

[The Straight Story]

Smoking bans backfiring at some hospitals: Study

Intravenous lines freezing in the cold. Patients in wheelchairs being accidentally locked out of the hospital on winter nights. Patients smoking in their hospital beds. Pounds of discarded cigarette butts near "no-smoking on hospital property" signs.

New Canadian research has found that not only are patients and staff ignoring hospital smoke-free bans, but also the policies are creating unintended safety issues for patients.

Not enough support is being offered to the five million Canadians who smoke to help manage withdrawal symptoms if they suddenly need to be hospitalized, the researchers say. Smoking needs to be treated as an addiction, they argue, and not simply as a bad habit — because when it's framed as a habit health-care providers can have a hard time understanding why anyone facing a serious health issue would continue to smoke.

...

"Anytime you see somebody standing outside a hospital, pushing an IV pole, smoking a cigarette, I would argue that, in 2011, that's reflective of substandard or inappropriate care," said Pipe, who has served as a consultant to the manufacturers of smoking cessation drugs.

"If these individuals were staggering out the front door because somebody failed to recognize they would go into alcohol withdrawal, heads would roll."

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Smoking+bans+backfiring+some+hospitals+Study/5633280/story.html

[msongs]

1. no excuse for staff. patients oughta to get a big $ nicotine drip nt

[rustydog]

43. Patients do NOT want a nicotine drip, nicotine patch, gum, pill

they want to smoke and they walk out and smoke, whether doctor likes it or not, whether the doctor gives permission or not.

[Chemisse]

2. My husband is supposed to have surgery, but keeps putting it off.

He is more afraid of being unable to smoke than of the surgery itself!

People who don't smoke just don't understand the depth of this addiction (I smoked - heavily - for 22 years). They treat it like a naughty behavior, which they are intelligent enough to have avoided.

I don't know how well nicotine patches alleviate this problem, but is seems like a sensible alternative to standing outside with IV poles.

[virgogal]

9. I'm a smoker and was in for three days. I used the gum and a friend

who was hospitalized and then to rehab used the patch.

No problems for either of us but the first thing we did when we got home was light up.

[Chemisse]

22. That sounds encouraging. I'd like my husband to use it on airplanes too.

He is the most unbelievably grumpy traveler because of withdrawals. One time I thought he was going to push people down - Castanza style - in his impatience to get through customs and outside for a cigarette.

[virgogal]

23. I've gone to Hawaii from Boston,and back with no problems at all.

The gum did the trick for me.

[nadinbrzezinski]

44. Patch ask for patch

Dad was the worst addict...this was what he needed. It was with the written orders in two countries.

[KT2000]

3. How about nursing homes

where I have seen residents wheel themselves beyond the parking lot because they have to be so many feet from the building. A little kindness goes a long way. If some 80 year old wants a cigarette - let them have a damn cigarette in a safe place.

[Nye Bevan]

4. Wouldn't a little nicotine in the IV line quell the craving? (nt)

[Fumesucker]

5. Too bad we can't have legal pot because it's addictive..

:eyes:

[polly7]

6. I got locked out of Regina General Hospital.

I snuck out for a smoke about 5 a.m. in my housecoat and slippers ... it was cold and snowing, and the damn door was locked when I went to go back in! Finally the Brinks guys showed up to load up the cash machine and let me in. My nurse was soooo angry at me. First and best smoke in days though.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

7. I spent 4 days hospitalized last year

I'm a smoker, they did offer patches, but I can't use them as my skin reacts badly to them. Frankly, the pain meds they had me on had me so out of it most of the time, it didn't really matter. But, every time I 'waked up' I begged for someone to wheel me outside to smoke. NOPE, No can do. I still smoke, but the good news is I've been sober for over a year now. One addiction at a time.....

[Skittles]

45. WELL DONE, OUTOTN

now listen up - the tools you've learned to quell your liquor addiction - use them later when you decide to tackle your nicotine monkey. Yes INDEED! :D

[SidDithers]

8. Poor, poor smokers...

:nopity:

Sid

[Th1onein]

12. Until you are a smoker, or addicted to something else...

that you'd give almost anything not to be addicted to? You don't need to pass judgement on someone who is. It's not funny; it's not cute, and in fact, it's rude.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Codeine]

25. A diabetic denied insulin can die.

A smoker denied his cigarettes will be bitchy and uncomfortable. Bit different.

[pipi_k]

26. Standard unempathetic reply

from people who have either never smoked at all (and don't know what it's like), or have quit smoking (and think they're better than those who can't).

[Boojatta]

10. I find it hard to believe that tobacco companies aren't providing the help that smokers need.

Not enough support is being offered to the five million Canadians who smoke to help manage withdrawal symptoms if they suddenly need to be hospitalized

For tobacco companies so loved the world that they sold cigarettes that whosoever smoketh them should not perish but have everlasting life.

[ellisonz]

11. Solution: Designated smoking area.

[seabeyond]

13. the hospital i went to had that. a pod for smokers. worked fine. it is the nanny that refuses to

bend because they demand people not smoke. not just keep it away from them

[BlueIris]

15. So those of us who don't want to be exposed to that shit have to suffer?

People who don't want to be exposed to the high health risks of second and third hand smoke have a right to be protected from those unable or unwilling to quit swilling that deadly garbage.

[in_cog_ni_to]

17. Do you, as an anti-smoking nazi, always hang out in designated smoking areas?

Do you people have to have EVERY INCH OF THIS PLANET for YOU and YOU ONLY? Honestly. How ridiculous can you be? If you drive a car, you need to sell it because it pollutes and discharges more carcinogens than cigarettes do. Damn.

[Union Scribe]

30. Lol, smokers are so grumpy.

Always with the nazi thing, too.

[in_cog_ni_to]

33. I'm not a smoker. n/t

[ellisonz]

If you don't want to be exposed to it...

...don't go near the designated smoking area - it could even be a ventilated, heated tent for winter conditions with seating areas. Why do smokers not deserve dignity? Do you think the OP article is incorrect about the effect of the blanket ban? Do you think it's a good thing sick people and staff have to go to great lengths to smoke?

[Leftist Agitator]

21. I'm exposed to the "high health risks" of your fucking car every single day.

Yeah, I live in your city. And whether I do or not, someone like me, a non-driver, DOES live in your city.

So why in the fuck should I have to breathe in a bunch of toxic shit just because your lazy ass won't get the fuck up and walk to get where you need to be?

Tell me again about deadly garbage, would ya?

:eyes:

Oh, and "third hand smoke"? Please, do tell, because that's a new one to me, even for you anti-smoking zealots...

[pipi_k]

27. Designated smoking areas

with air purifiers and doors would take care of the problem.

I'm an ex smoker (15 years) and that setup would not bother me at all.

[virgogal]

28. You would never have survived the 40s and 50s (as an adult)..

Smoke everyplace.

People were just tougher in those days.not hothouse flowers.

[Union Scribe]

32. Gee, what else do you wish was like the 40s and 50s?

Maybe instead of trying to roll back the country, you adapt.

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. Hospitals should offer Personal Vaporizers and let the patients and guests VAPE!

That does away with the butts, the smell, the 4000 chemical in the cigarettes and they work perfectly to replace cigarettes. JMCPO.

The Nicotine juice is just vegetable glycerine or propylene glycol, both food safe and nicotine is no more dangerous than the coffee they serve in the hospital. The only thing inhaled and exhaled is water vapor and nicotine.

[Douglas Carpenter]

16. one of the advantages I found in switching from cigarettes to cigars

is that I really found it difficult to go a full 12 hour shift without a cigarette. But if I have a a few puff on a cigar before work and a cigar after work - the satisfaction was so much deeper it could carry me through a 12 hour shift without the slightest sense of withdrawal. Also, although cigars are not by any means harmless - the experts agree that it is has about one fourth the negative impact of cigarettes. Furthermore one can be a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to cigars - a bit like one can be with wine - but with cigarettes - they just don't reach that level - not by a mile. It is true Cubanos are the best. But since they are not available inside U.S. Territory - Filipino and Latin American cigars are pretty damn good.

[Liberal_in_LA]

18. I had a flurry of appts at the hospital a few months ago. I noticed many employees

smoking on the sidewalk of a small street behind the hospital. many in their hospital scrubs. The hospital was totally smoke free, but employees had found a place to smoke off grounds.

[Shagbark Hickory]

20. The cravings make people do some really stupic things like go out in the freezing cold, in the rain

etc.

I agree, they need to do something to help people with the addictions instead of just say "no!"

[RebelOne]

40. Yeah, when I was working (which I am not any longer),

I would be one of those who stood out in the freezing cold, sweltering summer heat or rain just for a few puffs. People who do not have the addiction don't know what tobacco addiction is like.

[ismnotwasm]

24. We treat it like the addiction it is

We offer smoking cessation support, just as we have special monitoring for alcohol withdrawal We don't let them bring booze in the hospital, or allow have a special section where they can drink. Or shoot dope or smoke crack for that matter.
We are now a smoke free campus; we do what we can to help them during withdrawal

[Starbucks Anarchist]

29. Yes, let's allow smoking in the hospital.

That's healthy. :eyes:

[Union Scribe]

31. sounds like that's what the idiots want

Talk about regressive.

[mainer]

34. alcohol withdrawal can be fatal; nicotine withdrawal is not

Abruptly stopping cigarettes isn't going to kill you.

And yeah, go ahead and smoke in an institution where people are on oxygen. That's good for your health.

[Maine_Nurse]

35. Well, not in the classic sense. But...

Have you ever seen an extremely psychotic smoker denied smoking? By that I mean someone clinically suffering from severe schizophrenia or similar diseases. I have seen staff attacked because we can't let the patient's smoke. I'm sure the haldol, ativan, cogentin, and possibly Thorazine we gave was better for the patient (NOT). The resulting restraint was surely therapeutic also. Nicotine replacement seldom works for them as they are just as addicted to the act of smoking being used as a coping skill during psychosis flare-ups by occupying the hands and mind.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

38. Have you ever seen an extremely psychotic smoker denied smoking?

Yeah, about every 24 hours when one of these threads get posted.

[Fumesucker]

39. Snort..

:rofl:

:hi:

[JustAmused]

42. LOL

I suggest you look up the opinion of Ray Charles on this subject. I won't do your homework for you,
especially since you already have all of the answers. You might find his take on heroin and nicotine addiction
enlightening.

[Kaleva]

36. I would hike across the parking lot with a heart moniter to smoke a cigarette.

The doctors, nurses and staff said nothing to me as they probably figured I was under enough stress as our house burned down later in the night after I was admitted to the hospital early that morning.

[rox63]

37. Have you ever seen an oxygen-dependent smoker who caught their face on fire from smoking?

I have. It ain't pretty.

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. Yup, was the worry with dad

[Zorra]

41. Just build smokers hospitals with two wings -

Regular, and menthol.

Only medical personnel that smoke would work in them. (Heart Surgeon puffing away on the job: "Scalpel...sutures...ok, he's sewed up...damn it nurse, where's my lighter?!!?)

They could allow all patients and all staff to smoke wherever and whenever they wanted 24/7/30/365.

The rest of us could then have more efficient smoke free hospitals, and everyone would be happy.