Why do so many nurses smoke?

124

Replies

  • NoeHead
    NoeHead Posts: 516 Member

    Two days later I got my license! high five on thinking the worst! funny, when I stopped doing nursing and got into IT, i quit smoking...and lost weight lol...the stress...and lack of sleep...and can mess people up.
    You're in IT and you sleep?:noway:

    I WAS in IT and yes I did sleep..I was a contractor for the Navy in Bahrain...overnight shifts were covered by the seamen..worst I had to do was do my 830 to 530 shift instead of 730-430....LOVED that job, learned a lot and got paid! lol

    Nurses seem to be overlooked unless something goes wrong, the funny thing is that almost all the time they are checking in, talking to and monitoring the pt way more the a physician usually does(no disrespect to any MD's just saying that was my experience).
  • NRSPAM
    NRSPAM Posts: 961 Member
    I don't know what hospitals y'all have been to. Maybe one in the ghetto??? All I know, is that at my hospital, on my unit, my co-workers and I are professionals. None of us look sleazy, and as far as I know, none of them are current or ex-druggies. I do smoke, and I have a history of being obese, but I am no longer obese. I am still slightly over weight, but working on that. I do smoke, but I am the exception at my job. Most of my co-workers do not smoke. I always wash my hands when I am done. I rarely smell like cigarette smoke, only if it's very cold outside. I rarely even get the opportunity to smoke at work, since I'm usually busy busting my a%^ to take care of sick people. If I do wear any perfume at all, it's usually just a body spray, and it's usually wore off by the time I get to work. Also, most of my co-workers are healthy, and not overweight. Once again, I am the exception. You folks have no idea what nurses go through, and if you did, you wouldn't give a crap about whether we smoked, or were overweight. We are busy saving lives, and keeping you alive...literally. We bust our butts to take care of people, who sometimes fight us tooth and nail, literally, and sometimes are rude and ignorant to us, and act like we don't know anything. Meanwhile, we're on the phones trying to keep your doctors from killing you, and fighting to keep our other patients alive, who are extremely ill, while our other patients are calling us for trivial things every two seconds, and thinking that they're at the Holiday Inn. End of rant!
  • KMMRN
    KMMRN Posts: 104 Member
    I don't know what hospitals y'all have been to. Maybe one in the ghetto??? All I know, is that at my hospital, on my unit, my co-workers and I are professionals. None of us look sleazy, and as far as I know, none of them are current or ex-druggies. I do smoke, and I have a history of being obese, but I am no longer obese. I am still slightly over weight, but working on that. I do smoke, but I am the exception at my job. Most of my co-workers do not smoke. I always wash my hands when I am done. I rarely smell like cigarette smoke, only if it's very cold outside. I rarely even get the opportunity to smoke at work, since I'm usually busy busting my a%^ to take care of sick people. If I do wear any perfume at all, it's usually just a body spray, and it's usually wore off by the time I get to work. Also, most of my co-workers are healthy, and not overweight. Once again, I am the exception. You folks have no idea what nurses go through, and if you did, you wouldn't give a crap about whether we smoked, or were overweight. We are busy saving lives, and keeping you alive...literally. We bust our butts to take care of people, who sometimes fight us tooth and nail, literally, and sometimes are rude and ignorant to us, and act like we don't know anything. Meanwhile, we're on the phones trying to keep your doctors from killing you, and fighting to keep our other patients alive, who are extremely ill, while our other patients are calling us for trivial things every two seconds, and thinking that they're at the Holiday Inn. End of rant!

    Sister Nurse
  • jcmrax5
    jcmrax5 Posts: 133
    Ill never understand why ANYONE smokes. its disgusting, bad for you, and makes you STINK!
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    Nursing has a high rate of obesity as well.

    Most of the nurses I know are obese.

    Most of the nurses I've met are overweight or obese - just like the general population, but I didn't know whether any of them smoked or not. I never detected it. I'm surprised to hear that there is a high rate of smoking among nurses. That doesn't even make sense.
  • NRSPAM
    NRSPAM Posts: 961 Member
    Ill never understand why ANYONE smokes. its disgusting, bad for you, and makes you STINK!

    Because it's addicting, like any other drug. I started very young, like most people. Too stupid to know any better, or understand fully the consequences. Drugs, alcohol, food, everyone has their own vice in life. Some have more vices than others.
  • skadoosh33
    skadoosh33 Posts: 353 Member
    A lot of hospitals and government jobs won't hire you if you have had tobacco products within last 6 months. It was on applications when I was looking this past year. And there are some educated RNs out there. I have six years, 172 credits at 3.72 GPA through grad school. And it's hard to be obese if you work in a busy ER Trauma center like me.
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
    I don't even know why we have nurses at all! They are just undertrained doctors!
  • snazzyjazzy21
    snazzyjazzy21 Posts: 1,298 Member
    Having been a nurse for 43 yrs my answer to this question is... It was the ONLY way we got a break.

    Same reason so many chefs and cooks smoke , or at least is the case where I live. I had a tutor at culinary school who picked up smoking JUST so he could get the same number of breaks as the smokers at his work.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    why do you care what they do with their bodies? smoking is their choice.

    Because it's disgusting when I have to smell it on them.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    I could smell cigarette smoke on a nurse I had in the hospital recently.
    I thought of saying something, but as she was jamming a tube up my urethra at the time, I went for the whole discretion being the better part of keeping my pee pee thing.

    I spent a month in the hospital in October and most of the nurses were obese and they just looked like they had been around the block lol. You could definitely tell the smokers from the non by their teeth and skin. Gross.

    Definitely this. I used to work in the medical field (not as a nurse) and I'm telling you 80% of them (including RNs, yes) were sleazy ex druggies, chain smokers, obese and constantly drinking huge sodas and jamming fast food and donuts down their gobs. Like to the point of freaking me out. They also saw no reason, apparently, to ever fix their hair or makeup at all and wore hideous scrubs.

    The other 20% were all of 24 yrs old and model gorgeous, impeccably turned out, etc. They usually lasted about a year before going back to school to become NPs or doctors...or marrying well and becoming SAHMs.
    I used to work for surgeons and one of our patients was a nurse who needed major work done on her leg because she shot meth into her thigh. There were pictures in her chart and they were awful. The skin was so damaged that it had to be excised all the way down to the muscle. No joke, all four of her quads were exposed on one leg and her calf was exposed on the other leg.
  • Mustang_Susie
    Mustang_Susie Posts: 7,045 Member
    I don't even know why we have nurses at all! They are just undertrained doctors!

    You mean "underpaid" doctors...
  • AmerTunsi
    AmerTunsi Posts: 655 Member
    For those who are asking why it matters, and it is their body ... well it matters because of second-hand smoke and the fact that they interact with patients everyday. Just like not wearing strong fragrances, if at all, smoking leaves behind a very strong odor that can cause issues to patients who are allergic and/or have allergy induced asthma. I'm allergic to cigarette smoke and I remember once going to an ER and while I was in the worst pain of my life, I remember the odor of cigarettes coming from the nurse the most, which triggered my allergies and made it very difficult to breathe.

    We have come a long way in anti-smoking and educating people about the effects of second-hand smoke. I'm a supporter of many of the current policies and laws that are in place for anti-tobacco including hospital policies for new hires being non-smokers, increased cost of health and home insurance to smokers, and for it being illegal to smoke in cars with children under the age of 16
  • AmerTunsi
    AmerTunsi Posts: 655 Member
    I don't even know why we have nurses at all! They are just undertrained doctors!

    You mean "underpaid" doctors...

    Who didn't have to lose 10 years of their lives, potential income they could have made from choosing a different field, or go into hundreds and thousands of dollars into debt to obtain that education to get that job. I suppose if nurses had to undergo the same training, lose that much of their lives, and go into the same amount of debt ... then they would certainly be underpaid doctors.
  • ReinasWrath
    ReinasWrath Posts: 1,173 Member
    They're people too. Just cuz they work in the medical field doesn't make them impervious to temptations. Some may have been smokers for years before they started the job.
  • RN514
    RN514 Posts: 1,107 Member
    I don't even know why we have nurses at all! They are just undertrained doctors!

    ......
  • NRSPAM
    NRSPAM Posts: 961 Member
    I don't even know why we have nurses at all! They are just undertrained doctors!

    You mean "underpaid" doctors...

    ^^^This! Lol
  • Mustang_Susie
    Mustang_Susie Posts: 7,045 Member
    Oh, and I ride my bike to work in my hideous scrubs...
  • skywa
    skywa Posts: 901 Member
    I think that as a health professional they should have the self restraint to quite, or at least find an alternative. Second hand smoke is just as dangerous as actually smoking, it's their job to make/keep people healthy.

    One can say it's a "personal choice", but if you're affecting the health of the people around with your habits you're just being selfish.

    Thanks just my opinion on the matter though. I use to smoke myself and I understand it's hard, but definitely do-able and the wiser choice!
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
    I don't even know why we have nurses at all! They are just undertrained doctors!

    You mean "underpaid" doctors...

    Who didn't have to lose 10 years of their lives, potential income they could have made from choosing a different field, or go into hundreds and thousands of dollars into debt to obtain that education to get that job. I suppose if nurses had to undergo the same training, lose that much of their lives, and go into the same amount of debt ... then they would certainly be underpaid doctors.

    Exactly!
  • I know a doctor that smokes as well. It can get anybody addicted. All smokers know it is bad for them, not just nurses.
  • bernied262
    bernied262 Posts: 882 Member


    One can say it's a "personal choice", but if you're affecting the health of the people around with your habits you're just being selfish.


    Sure, if the nurse was smoking whilst dealing with me, I would have a problem with that. Last time i checked the hospitals had a no smoking policy so it is all good.
    I am an ex smoker (still have the odd slip up), i am also an ex nurse (psych). The career choice should not dictate what the person can do in their private life. What they do on their time is their business!
  • phred_52
    phred_52 Posts: 189 Member
    Uhmmm, maybe they want to? I'd rather have a nurse/doctor smoke, than be an excessive drinker and maybe take out a loved one. Maybe a better question would be, why do so many teens drink? Then again, don't effect me, so whoopty doo.
  • vtmoon
    vtmoon Posts: 3,436 Member
    I don't even know why we have nurses at all! They are just undertrained doctors!

    Someone has to bridge the gap between a doctor and someone walking off the street and helping you medically. :tongue:
  • hotmomma0612
    hotmomma0612 Posts: 651 Member
    Why do so many alcohol consultants drink?
    People do what they want....
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    Having been a nurse for 43 yrs my answer to this question is... It was the ONLY way we got a break.

    Same reason so many chefs and cooks smoke , or at least is the case where I live. I had a tutor at culinary school who picked up smoking JUST so he could get the same number of breaks as the smokers at his work.

    This used to piss my dad off. He was a non-smoker and only the smokers were allowed to go on break. If you didn't have a cigarette in your mouth you couldn't be out there. That sounds like some bull$#it to me. :angry:
  • KMMRN
    KMMRN Posts: 104 Member
    Oh, and I ride my bike to work in my hideous scrubs...
    Susie.....I ride my bike to work too! It psyches me up for the shift. Usually shower and change when I get there as it is uphill all the way. Nice coasting home though.
  • Warchortle
    Warchortle Posts: 2,197 Member
    Nursing has a high rate of obesity as well.

    Joker-Meme-Smoking-Dangerous.png
    laughed so hard.
  • m76b
    m76b Posts: 1,498 Member
    I don't! :tongue: but is their choice!
  • HollisGrant
    HollisGrant Posts: 2,022 Member
    Nursing has a high rate of obesity as well.

    Joker-Meme-Smoking-Dangerous.png

    Why do people get bent out of shape about fat and not about smoking? Because we've been talking about smoking for the last 20 to 30 years. In the beginning, people were furious about smoking restrictions and the rights of smokers versus nonsmokers. We've talked that one to death. The fat conversation is fairly new.