Tobacco.org

• Smoke-Free Zone Nurses and patients tackle nicotine addiction 

It's one of today's major paradoxes: Despite the health risks of tobacco, some people continue to smoke. As a result, nurses often face the challenge of helping patients -- both psychologically and physically -- stop smoking. Sometimes, a nurse must contend with an even more difficult obstacle: playing the role of both healer and patient. Sixteen percent of nurses in the U.S. still smoke. . . .

Stella Aguinaga Bialous, RN, DrPH, is president of the San Francisco-based Tobacco Policy International and co-investigator of the Tobacco Free Nurses Initiative (www.tobaccofreenurses.org). A professor at the UCLA School of Nursing, Linda Sarna, RN, DNSc, is principal investigator of the Tobacco Free Nurses Initiative, funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. They describe the Tobacco Free Nurses initiative as "the first-ever national initiative to assist nurses to quit smoking."

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