Hospitals Expand Their No-Smoking Zones
Most American hospitals banned smoking almost two decades ago, but now many are extending the ban, prohibiting smoking on all hospital property and making their entire campuses smoke-free, a new survey reports.
Forty-five percent of accredited hospitals had smoke-free campuses by February 2008, according to the survey, although some facilities did not have control over remote areas like satellite parking lots. By the end of this year, well over half of the hospitals will have put such bans in place.
The survey was conducted by the Joint Commission, which accredits 80 percent of American hospitals.
The findings appear in the online version of the journal Tobacco Control.
The study’s author, Dr. Scott Williams, associate director of health service research with the Joint Commission, said he and his colleagues were surprised to find no clear geographic patterns or regional differences.
“You didn’t see tobacco states lagging way behind, or California leading the way,” Dr. Williams said. “In fact, all hospitals in North Carolina have smoke-free campuses.”
Dr. Williams added that hospitals had long considered hospitalizations “teachable moments” for some patients, and many offer smoking cessation after heart attacks or pneumonia.
Copyright © August 24, 2009 Nytimes
