Why do so many health care people....

[Aurora63]

...smoke?

I would think that with all we know about smoking, and that they see the effects of smoking first hand all the time, that they would be the last people to smoke. Yet I still meet lots of them who do smoke (especially nurses, for some reason.)

I know it is a stressful job, and maybe it helps some people blow off steam, but I still don't get it.

Just a thought.

 

[caitycaity]

smoking is an addiction. as a former smoker, i can tell you, quitting was the hardest thing i ever had to do. many of these people may have started before they were in healthcare.

and still when i get really stressed i crave a cigarette.

 

[Cruise04]

I've always wondered this as well. Maybe because it helps to kill food cravings since they sometimes don't have time to eat. Have you ever noticed how quite a few health care providers are very skinny?????

 

[Lewski709]

Of course they know. I am not a smoker, but I get it. <a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_13_4.gif' border=0></a>

 

[bcvprincesses]

I work at a hospital ER and work with many people who smoke. A few of them tried to stop and started again because they said this was their only excuse for a break. It is true that they take many more breaks then those that don't smoke.

I guess they must be nuts to keep smoking and then taking care of people with COPD that cannot breathe at all. It must be very addicting because we have a few regular pts that come in and still smoke. (they have to take off their oxygen to smoke)

 

[goofygirl]

I agree, its stupid for healthcare workers to smoke, and it also makes the hospital's image look bad when its employees are hanging outside its doors puffing away. I even knew a nurse who smoked while she was pregnant

I take "walk breaks" and go outside a little for some air. If my coworkers are aloud "smoke breaks", I figure I'm entitled to breaks too!

 

[Disney Doll]

Because we are human, with the same kinds of vices, weaknesses, and failings as the rest of the world.

 

[legs22]

I've seen radiation therapists that are smokers give radiation to lung cancer patients They don't quit.

Also there is a hospital that tells their employees to smoke behind the hospital in the "butt hut"

 

[DisneyObsessed]

As soon as I read your subject line, I knew exactly what was coming. I've always wondered that too. You'd think by seeing what it can do first hand, it would make them think twice. Yes, quitting is hard, but jeesh, who wants to smell like that? There was a time when my father was in the hospital, he had a nurse come in to do something. She leaned over him, he caught a whiff of cigarette smoke, and he told her to leave and to send another nurse in who doesn't smoke. Now granted, that was very rude of him to say, but the smell really affects some people. When you're working so close with people, it can be offensive, not to mention the health risks and the expense.

 

[DocRafiki]

I don't get it either. And it being hard to quit is hardly an excuse either. Most of these people grew up in a time when we already knew how bad it was for our health. It's stupid to even try something like that if you know it's deadly and addictive. I've never even put a cigarette in my mouth; I can't be addicted if I've never tried it.