Tobacco.org

Bad Habit Goes Up in Smoke 

Individuals with SMI or more than twice as likely to smoke than the general population.

* Many individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) are highly motivated to quit and have made quit attempts in the past.

* What those with SMI fear the most is that when they try to stop smoking, symptoms of their mental illness will reoccur. (Through our work, we have found that withdrawal symptoms from cigarette smoking mimic some of the symptoms of mental illness.)

* Providing opportunities for a continuum of support, such as psycho education, peer support, and assistance with appropriate nicotine replacement therapy, significantly increases chances of successfully quitting.

Jump to full article »

RNs Praise Courageous Vote by Senate Committee on Badly Flawed Healthcare Bill 

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee today offered praise to the Senate Health Committee for resisting enormous pressure to pass a badly flawed healthcare bill and pledged to work with legislators, community groups, and labor for genuine healthcare reform that avoids the serious shortcomings of AB1X.

In a statement following the vote, CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro congratulated the committee "for its thorough, deliberative process and for taking a principled courageous stand despite the enormous pressure brought to bear by those who were pushing for hurried passage for a bad bill." . . .

Additionally, CNA/NNOC noted the serious underfunding of the proposal, including a tobacco tax and "the absurd premise of basing a health bill on essentially encouraging individuals to smoke."

Jump to full article »

Nurses can help smokers quit  

Nurses can be effective in helping smokers to quit, a U.S. review of 31 clinical studies involving 12,000 adult smokers.

The review, published in The Cochrane Library, found smokers offered advice by nurses have an increased likelihood of quitting compared to smokers without such intervention.

Study leader Virginia Hill Rice of Wayne State University College of Nursing said nurses have heavy workloads but recognize helping smokers stop is an important responsibility.

Jump to full article »

• Big Tobacco and the California Nurses Association: Happy Together 

With Democratic legislators and the Governor on the verge of an agreement on the nation's most sweeping comprehensive health care reform plan, its political foes already are circling. Two of the strangest bedfellows certain to fight the plan will be Big Tobacco and the Nader-endorsing leadership of the California Nurses Association.

Big Tobacco began its lobbying campaign earlier this week, routing calls to legislative offices with anti-consumer messages. And today, CNA-backed single payer advocates began an email campaign to Capitol offices. . . .

All of this will make it very interesting for hear CNA's leadership explain to its rank-and-file members who want health care reform how climbing in bed with tobacco and insurance company interests will improve the quality of care for Californians.

Jump to full article »

Weekly versus basic smoking cessation support in primary care: a randomised controlled trial  

Background: There is insufficient and conflicting evidence about whether more intensive behavioural support is more effective than basic behavioural support for smoking cessation and whether primary care nurses can deliver effective behavioural support. . . .

Conclusions: The absolute quit rates achieved are those expected from nicotine replacement alone, implying that neither basic nor weekly support were effective. Primary care smoking cessation treatment should provide pharmacotherapy with sufficient support only to ensure it is used appropriately, and those in need of support should be referred to specialists.

Jump to full article »

Stamping out smoking nurses' focus  

Nurses are joining forces in a new bid to stamp out smoking. There are around 600,000 smokers in New Zealand and it is thought at least half of them will die early because of their habit. A new report shows 90 percent of nurses here believe it is part of their job to help patients stop smoking, but under half of them have the training to do it.

Grace Wong is a nurse, and the author of the report into the attitudes of nurses towards smoking. She says a new group, 'Nurses for a Smokefree Aotearoa', is calling for more training. It was launched yesterday.

Jump to full article »

• High Prevalence of Smoking Among Physicians in China 

FINDINGS: With 360 million smokers, China has more cigarette consumers than any other country — a smoking prevalence of 31 percent among the general population. Physicians can play a key role in encouraging smokers to quit, yet up to now, little has been known about Chinese physicians' attitudes and practices regarding smoking. In this first-of-its kind-study, researchers found that 23 percent of 3,552 hospital-based physicians surveyed were smokers, substantially higher than in the United States (3.3 percent), where the smoking prevalence in the general population is 20.9 percent, and the United Kingdom (6.8 percent), with 25 percent prevalence in the general population. This rate is also higher than in Japan (20.2 percent), where the smoking prevalence in the general population is 33.8 percent.

IMPACT: The findings are noteworthy because physicians who smoke are significantly less likely than their nonsmoking counterparts to advise their patients to quit smoking. As a result of this survey, the China Center for Disease Control has instituted an antismoking campaign that targets physicians and medical students and promotes smoke-free hospitals.

Jump to full article »

RCN expert hails smoking ban 

Although the law has been brought in to protect the health of staff whose work is serving the public, but it is not only them who will benefit. On a personal note it will be wonderful to go out for a drink with friends and not come home smelling like an ashtray. . . .

I am proud to have been part of the large team of people who lobbied to bring this change about. This is the biggest public health change I have seen in my life and the benefits will be felt by generations to come.

Jump to full article »

New law expands role of 51 'tobacco nurses'  

A Mississippi law that took effect July 1 expands the duties of the 51 nurses who are funded with state money and makes all of the state's estimated 390-400 school nurses answer to the Mississippi Department of Education's Office of Healthy Schools.

Providing more health education, promoting dropout prevention plans and collecting health-related data are now part of the expanded role of 51 school nurses, previously known as "tobacco nurses."

A new law that took effect July 1 broadens the responsibilities of the nurses who had done tobacco and substance abuse prevention education funded through The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, which no longer can use money from the state's tobacco settlement.

Jump to full article »

Nurses to encourage patients to stop smoking 

The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario is asking nurses across the province to encourage their patients to quit smoking.

Earlier this week the organization launched a new web site at www.tobaccofreernao.ca to promote RNAO guidelines for smoking cessation.

In a media release, Tazim Virani, director of the RNAO’s Best Practice Guidelines program, said the goal of the web site is to encourage every nurse in the province to ask people if they smoke, and provide the nurses with the information they need to advise, counsel and coach smokers.

Jump to full article »

An international review of tobacco smoking research in the nursing profession, 1976-2006  

Tobacco smoking represents a contentious issue in the nursing profession, and one that has now become an important topic in nursing research. Despite this fact, the epidemiological quality of research varies widely, and it has been difficult to accurately determine the true incidence of smoking among nurses. Given these inconsistencies, we conducted a state-of-the-art review to identify international trends in tobacco usage among nurses, to ascertain how the epidemiological quality of research has improved over the past 30 years, and also to elucidate the directions in which nursing research has evolved. A total of 73 English-language studies that met the inclusion criteria were located and analysed. Overall, our review suggests that, while tobacco smoking among nurses appears to be decreasing in many countries during recent years, the international trend is far from uniform, and some developed nations still report high smoking rates among their nursing staff. . . .

In order to make the next generation of tobacco research data as comparable as possible, future scholars should consider devising and implementing a standardised format for conducting international tobacco smoking research within the nursing profession.

Jump to full article »

Tobacco smoking habits among a complete cross-section of Australian nursing students 

This study was undertaken as a complete cross-sectional survey of tobacco smoking habits among 270 undergraduate students at an Australian nursing school . . .

This study suggests that although tobacco smoking remains fairly common among Australian nursing students, its prevalence and distribution vary according to the individual demographics of the group under study. Future researchers will need to consider the changing demographic base from which the new generation of nursing students are drawn.

Jump to full article »

Area hospitals plan to ban tobacco 

Nancy Angelo started smoking 20 years ago. You could say she should have known better: She had just become a nurse.

Nursing, though, was one of the reasons -- "the stress factor," she said.

She had just finished a cigarette behind Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where she manages a ward handling some of its most complicated cases.

But she will not be able to enjoy that break for long. Sarasota Memorial, seven other hospitals, and the county health departments in Sarasota, Charlotte and DeSoto counties will announce today that their campuses are going tobacco-free.

Angelo and the half-dozen co-workers from across the hospital, congregating at tables with rusty coffee-can ashtrays as centerpieces, welcomed the news.

"If we're going to be promoting wellness, we're going to have to walk the walk," Angelo said.

Jump to full article »

LETTER: Warding off smoke 

Re "No smoking: That means you too, Nurse," Jan. 21

It is a good idea to ban smoking inside hospitals. After all, hospitals are there so that people can receive quality healthcare, not be subjected to secondhand smoke. It seems hypocritical for nurses to take smoking breaks while they have patients inside the hospital dying of smoking-related illnesses.

Jump to full article »

Nurses Health Warning 

NURSING staff at Banbury's Horton Hospital will face disciplinary hearings if they are caught continually flouting a smoking ban from the start of the New Year.

From Monday, the ban was introduced for staff, patients and visitors in the grounds of the John Radcliffe, Churchill and Horton hospitals as well as inside the hospital buildings.

Patients or visitors who are found smoking on site will be warned and may be asked to leave trust premises if these warnings are ignored.

Jump to full article »