Pennsylvania Hospital Will No Longer...

[PlutosFriend]

Not that it really matters. That hospital and almost every other one in the area are on a hiring freeze. It will effect the new facility they are building, but since all of the hospitals in the area are smoke free those employees would have to go out onto a main road without sidewalks to smoke.
Look at it from the patient's point of view, if you are admitted to the hospital you are NOT allowed to go outside and smoke anymore(around here anyway) You will get a nicotine patch and/or gum. If you insisted on going outside you would have to leave the hospital property and you would have to sign out of the hospital, insurance could deny payment for that! It's not fair to them if they are needing that cigarette, can't have it and then an employee comes in from their break smelling like smoke.
I work in a hospital and it is annoying when the smokers need to go out, their breaks get longer since they have to leave the property, nearby home owners are not happy with the cigarette butts left on the ground and it just looks bad when you have groups of employees standing around the entrances to the hospital smoking. And God forbid if we are busy and they can't go out, they get very irritable and that filters down into patient care.

Do we work at the same place? Seriously tho, the hospital I work at does not allow the smokers to congregate near doors to smoke...so they hide in the parking garage behind a cement wall............

 

[Kim&Chris]

LOL I have never heard of nicotine test. I still think it's stupid

It's a swab they put in your mouth, between your teeth and cheek, and it picks up even the slightest bit of nicotine. We just took these tests a few weeks ago in an attempt to lower our health insurance costs.

 

[SaraJayne]

I think it's wonderful and I wish more businesses would choose to lower their healthcare costs by doing the same thing.

 

[jrmasm]

It's a swab they put in your mouth, between your teeth and cheek, and it picks up even the slightest bit of nicotine. We just took these tests a few weeks ago in an attempt to lower our health insurance costs.

Would living with a smoker leave residue in a non smoker's mouth?

 

[ols386]

I'm a non-smoker, and I think it's wrong.

I hate cigarette smoke, and I don't like smelling it on other people's clothing, but to not hire someone because they smoke, or letting an employee go because they tested positive on a smoke-test, seems like a form of discrimination. I CAN see having a smoke-free environment, where smoking is not allowed ANYWHERE on-site, especially if it's a medical facility.

And there is a difference between smoke-testing and drug-testing. Smoking isn't against the law, but (certain) drugs are illegal.

Will the next thing be, that they will not hire someone with high cholestoral? Or because someone doesn't spend X-amount of hours in the gym each day? Or because they don't visit the dentist often enough? Or because they drink too much? Where does it end?

 

[Planogirl]

How long does nicotine remain in your system?

I don't smoke and think it's a horrible thing to do but this kind of control makes me uncomfortable. I don't like the Big Brother thing going on nowadays.

 

[FireDancer]

If you look back through this thread at the various responses as to why this is a good idea, you will find a variety of reasons. Some of them I can buy into (i.e. impact on patient health). There are others, though, who are citing the costs to society because smokers tend toward having more health issues. If that is the rationale behind this decision, then it is a slippery slope because most, if not all, of us have some risky behavior that we engage in that could be seen as having the potential to cost employers and insurers money. Even those of us who are trying to be healthy are engaging in risky behaviors (ie. broken bones and torn ligaments or getting hit by a car because we are running outdoors). There are some respondents who work for companies that aren't in the business of healthcare who are saying this has been instituted in their workplaces. If this is about impact on the patients, then why is it all hospital employees? Why not only front line hospital employees? If somebody is working in a lab away from patients, then they aren't causing patient discomfort. Don't get me wrong, I think smoking is disgusting and I don't get why some people enjoy it, but it's their choice and as long as they aren't smoking anywhere near me they are free to go to town.

The causative relationship between health and smoking or something like obesity is not the same as the correlative relationship between activity and injury. Insurance is a game of statistics and probabilities and I am quite sure that the costs to insurance companies (which are passed to us) is much higher for the long term effects of the former as opposed to the short term effects of the later.

Sure, a broken foot requires care and cost but is treated and heales under normal circumstances. The chances that smoking will result in long term acute care for an incurable disease like emphysema is much higher then a sports injury requiring the same long term care at the same level of cost.

I agree that there is no way anyone can 100% guarantee they will remain a healthy person. Lance Armstrong was among the fittest people on Earth when he was diagnosed with cancer. There are lifestyle choices that will sway the odds though.

I would be willing to bet that the cost to treat and cure Lance's cancer was much less then the cost to care for my grandfather for the years of health effects from his smoking. That care never had a chance of doing anything other then slow the gradual death he would eventually face.

 

[Kim&Chris]

Would living with a smoker leave residue in a non smoker's mouth?

That's a good question. I do not smoke, and neither does my husband. When we did the test they did not ask if we lived with a smoker, so I'm guessing that living with a smoker might not affect this test.

On the other hand, when I was growing up I lived in a home where I was the only non-smoker. But everyone thought I smoked because my clothing and hair had that odor. So, maybe living under those circumstances (residing with several heavy smokers) a test could possibly give an incorrect reading.

 

[Metro West]

I like it! I work at a hospital, that is smoke free, but most of the smokers, and there aren't many left, but they sneak outside to smoke, and in the winter go to their car and stink so bad when they come back in

I work at a hospital too and back in 2008, they banned tobacco use on campus. Further...you could not smoke during your shift but before or after work and off property is your business.

I think that's the problem with this mind set of hiring practices. The employer is telling what you can and can not do on your own time...which is not right in any instance. For example...If I still smoked and I smoked in my car on the way to work and off property, there is nothing they can say about it. By the time I got parked and into the office, I don't see how my smoking would affect anyone else's health. This hospital in PA can do whatever they want since it's their company but pay attention to this...If employers are allowed to tell you what you can and can't do AWAY from work, this could lead to other "habits" people have like coffee, cell phones, etc. being scrutinized. Sound silly? As Judy Tenuta used to say..."It could happen."

 

[mrsklamc]

I think people should have the right to do what they want on their own time. On the other hand, I don't think that immediately after cancer surgery I should have had to smell it on my nurse's hands when I already was nauseous anyway.

 

[Sugardimples]

My employer stopped hiring smokers two years ago.

 

[eliza61]

How long does nicotine remain in your system?

I don't smoke and think it's a horrible thing to do but this kind of control makes me uncomfortable. I don't like the Big Brother thing going on nowadays.

Would living with a smoker leave residue in a non smoker's mouth?

Nicotine itself passes through your blood fairly quickly (6 hours I believe) but cigarette smoke is made up of literallly hundreds of chemicals.
A by product of Nicotine is called cotinine and it stays in your blood system up to 7 days. some Insurance exams will look for cotinine in hair samples and urine.

 

[jrmasm]

Nicotine itself passes through your blood fairly quickly (6 hours I believe) but cigarette smoke is made up of literallly hundreds of chemicals.
A by product of Nicotine is called cotinine and it stays in your blood system up to 7 days. some Insurance exams will look for cotinine in hair samples and urine.

Do you know if cotinine can be present in your system if you don't smoke?

 

[disney1990]

No big surpise to me. Many years ago, perhaps as much as 20, the company that I worked for charged an insurance surcharge for people that were more than a certain percentage over weight.

The insurance rates for companies are out of sight these days and companies are doing what they can to bring down the costs for all of their employees.

 

[eliza61]

Do you know if cotinine can be present in your system if you don't smoke?

That I don't know.

Here's a press release from the hospital.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7358028

Hospital does site cost as one of the factors. They claim their smokers cost the employeers more than non smokers. (not my words, simply repeating. don't know if its true or not)

 

[Jynohn]

I'm usually a live and let live kind of person, but smoking does have a negative impact on the health and comfort level of non-smokers. Even though it's much easier to avoid smoke now that it's been banned in most public buildings, there is still no avoiding the odor that follows someone around after they've had a cigarette. I don't see anything wrong with a hospital not wanting patients to have to be exposed to unpleasant lingering odors.

And as a couple of others have pointed out, I see it as also a productivity issue. In every job I have ever held, the smokers always seem to take more frequent and longer breaks throughout the day than non-smokers.

 

[starann]

I work for a hospital that is listed. I am not a smoker and never have been (and I have seen 1st hand what smoking can do to people, and it is WAY more than cancer....wound healing, blood clots, I could go on)

In this economy employers have the freedom to be choosy about who they employ.....either you want a job or you want to smoke. If you choose/want to smoke, there are about 100 other applicants who don't smoke who want the job. The hospital is trying to cut costs (after having laid off staff in a satallite hospital, cut medical benefits for current staff and no raises across the board) to prevent laying off more people.

 

[DrCavin]

Do you know if cotinine can be present in your system if you don't smoke?

The levels would be minimal, similar to someone claiming they had marijuana in their system from being around someone smoking pot.

 

[N.Bailey]

My husband works for a company in PA that will not hire smokers. I can support that decision because smoking increases the risks of cancer where the job in concerned (this is over and above the risk involved from smoking along). I'm not sure I support it as an open policy though. What's next? If you drink Coke, they won't hire you? What about fast food? At what point will it stop?

 

[N.Bailey]

I work for a hospital that is listed. I am not a smoker and never have been (and I have seen 1st hand what smoking can do to people, and it is WAY more than cancer....wound healing, blood clots, I could go on)

In this economy employers have the freedom to be choosy about who they employ.....either you want a job or you want to smoke. If you choose/want to smoke, there are about 100 other applicants who don't smoke who want the job. The hospital is trying to cut costs (after having laid off staff in a satallite hospital, cut medical benefits for current staff and no raises across the board) to prevent laying off more people.

So by your standard, they then should be able to pre-screen anyone who comes with a history of heart disease? These people are also at high risk. How about pre-screening for diabetes? Both of the above come at a high cost to the insurance industry as well. Testing for HIV/AIDS?

Should it be, either you want a job or you want a bag of chips? Or, you want a job, or you want a Cola?

I'm for ALL of the above, IF, they go after ALL of the above. I do not believe that selectively choosing is ok at any expense.