Smoking Kills: Help an Individual in Quit Smoking; Nursing Consideration

Abstract

Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Cigarette smoke contains over 4, 800 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer. The main contents are Carbon monoxide, Tar, Benzene, Formaldehyde, Ammonia, Cadmium, Butane, Stearic acid, Xexamine, Taluene, Nicotine, Methanol, Arsenic, Acetic acid, Cyan hydric acid, Polonium 210, DDT, Vinyl Chloride, Naphthalene, Acetone, etc. Smoking is directly responsible for approximately 90 percent of lung cancer deaths, smoking may results in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease coronary heart disease, stroke, abdominal aortic aneurysm, acute myeloid leukemia, cataract, pneumonia, periodontitis, and bladder, esophageal, laryngeal, lung, oral, throat, cervical, kidney, stomach, and pancreatic cancers. If you smoke, giving up is probably the greatest single step you can take to improve your health. Withdrawal from nicotine can cause depressed mood, difficulty in sleeping, irritability, frustration or anger, anxiety, difficulty with concentration, restlessness, decreased heart rate, dizziness etc. Nurses have a key role to play in influencing the health of patients. Whether working in a hospital or the community, nurses are ideally placed to encourage smokers to give up. Even the most basic intervention by a health professional can have a profound effect on encouraging a smoker to stop or to seek help in stopping.