Smoking Inside Canadian Acute Care Hospitals

Trevor Bardell,Peter Brown

doi:10.1155/2006/139359

Abstract

To assess smoking policies at Canadian acute care hospitals. A questionnaire was designed, piloted and faxed to all acute care hospitals in Canada. The questionnaire was designed to address the following: what is the current policy regarding patient smoking? Are staff and/or visitors allowed to smoke inside the hospital? Is there a separate policy for psychiatric patients? Are smoking cessation products available at the hospital pharmacy? Is the policy governed by regional or municipal legislation? A total of 852 hospitals were included in the study. Of these, 476 responded to the questionnaire, for an overall response rate of 56%. Twenty-seven per cent of respondents allowed patient smoking inside the hospital. While staff smoking was not allowed inside most hospitals (93%), 32% of hospitals in Quebec allowed staff to smoke inside the building. Thirty per cent of hospitals had a separate policy for psychiatric patients, and 27% of hospitals had provisions for visitor smoking. Sixty-seven per cent of hospitals were able to offer patients smoking cessation products while they were in hospital. Many Canadian hospitals continue to allow smoking inside their facilities. There is considerable variation in hospital smoking policies across the country.

Highlights

While staff smoking was not allowed inside 93% of all hospitals, 32% of hospitals in Quebec allowed staff to smoke in the building
Thirty per cent of hospitals had a separate policy for psychiatric patients
It has been previously demonstrated that hospitals are an ideal setting to begin smoking cessation interventions [7,8,9]; little is done to take advantage of this opportunity

Summary

OBJECTIVE

To assess smoking policies at Canadian acute care hospitals. Twenty-seven per cent of respondents allowed patient smoking inside the hospital. Thirty per cent of hospitals had a separate policy for psychiatric patients, and 27% of hospitals had provisions for visitor smoking. Le questionnaire a été conçu pour connaître les politiques relatives à l’usage du tabac dans les hôpitaux pour les patients. Vingt-sept pour cent des répondants autorisaient les patients à fumer dans l’hôpital. Trente pour cent des hôpitaux étaient dotés d’une politique distincte pour les patients psychiatriques, et 27 % avaient adopté des dispositions à l’égard du tabagisme des visiteurs. Soixante-sept pour cent des hôpitaux étaient en mesure d’offrir des produits de renoncement au tabac aux patients pendant leur hospitalisation. We sought to describe the availability of smoking cessation products (which were not available on our own hospital formularies) in Canadian acute care hospitals with the intention of facilitating discussion on this important issue

METHODS

RESULTS

DISCUSSION