UK hospital promotes e-cigarettes

[Baditude]

"Try an e-cigarette (95% safer than smoking)"

Nice to see some hospitals in the UK "get it".

I vaped in my hospital room (US) during two recent hospitalizations, but only when I was alone in my room. A couple of nurses or aids saw my vape setup resting on the table that goes over your bed and said, "You know you can't use that in here." They said they wouldn't tell anyone, though. One even admitted that she vaped, too. So my advice is to vape discreetly if you feel you must and hide your mod from hospital staff.

 

[Vaperer]

"Try an e-cigarette (95% safer than smoking)"

Nice to see hospitals in the UK "get it".

I vaped in my hospital room (US) during two recent hospitalizations, but only when I was alone in my room. A couple of nurses or aids saw my vape setup resting on the table that goes over your bed and said, "You know you shouldn't use that in here." They said they wouldn't tell anyone, though. One even admitted that she vaped, too.

I'll be dipped a government with a brain?
Why can't we have a government like that

 

[Big Me]

That hospital is in Leicester. Leicester Stop Smoking Services were one of the first, if not the first, to recommend vaping as a means to stop smoking.

Many hospitals in the UK are not so supportive.

 

[JCinFLA]

I'll be dipped a government with a brain?
Why can't we have a government like that

Maybe the answer is because a large portion of ours...doesn't seem to be capable of even collectively making a whole one, much of the time.

 

[Vaperer]

Maybe the answer is because a large portion of ours...doesn't seem to be capable of even collectively making a whole one, much of the time.

Yeah it's pretty hard to get anything done through Congress. Birds swim in the sea and fish fly in the sky . They can't agree on anything. Especially when you only work 10 days a year .SAVE THE WHALES!

 

[Eskie]

I'm stealing that photo.

UK hospitals get it because the NHS wants to decrease expenditures on smoking related illnesses, and they're the only paying resource in town. The US method of funding Healthcare provides no such incentives for rapid innovation dedicated to decreasing costs, rather innovation for more, newer, and more expensive treatments without thought of who's going to pay for it.

 

[Pete M]

My Dad used to work in Nottingham's hospital (not so far away from Leicester) and said the heaviest smokers he knew were the Doctors and other clinicians. He used to maintain the electrical equipment during heart operations, and the award-winning surgeon he worked for used to ask his juniors to hold the instruments steady in the patient's heart for 5 minutes so he could pop out and smoke his pipe in the corridor. Several times during each operation he did. That's the 70s for you.

Back on topic - I work for the NHS myself and one thing that's immediately apparent is that each Trust has their own way of doing things, to the point of being contradictory depending on where you live. Ours is actually pretty neutral on the subject at the moment (apart from the 5 minutes devoted to 'vaping and fire safety' on my induction day), which is a shame as I work in the maternity building and the amount of people I see with their kids or even babies in the smoking shelter makes me sad sometimes. I'm not a preacher or someone who thinks giving unasked for advice to strangers is a good idea, but I often wish the doctors they're there to see would say something.

I'm optimistic though - there's tons of anti-smoking literature and posters around every hospital in the UK, and it's only a matter of time imo that posters like this one from Leicester become the norm.

 

[Baditude]

My Dad used to work in Nottingham's hospital (not so far away from Leicester) and said the heaviest smokers he knew were the Doctors and other clinicians. He used to maintain the electrical equipment during heart operations, and the award-winning surgeon he worked for used to ask his juniors to hold the instruments steady in the patient's heart for 5 minutes so he could pop out and smoke his pipe in the corridor. Several times during each operation he did. That's the 70s for you.

I sometimes was a first assistant to a neurosurgeon who was a pipe smoker. Brain surgery can often take 3 - 6 hours, and he would often "break scrub" during a long procedure to go smoke his pipe in the employee "smoker's lounge" back in the 1980's.

He was a low key guy personality wise, but could literally become a tyrant in the OR when under stress. I believe those smoke breaks allowed him to retain his gentler composure and allowed him time to contemplate his decision making during complicated procedures.

 

[Pete M]

I sometimes was a first assistant to a neurosurgeon who was a pipe smoker. Brain surgery can often take 3 - 6 hours, and he would often "break scrub" during a long procedure to go smoke his pipe in the employee "smoker's lounge" back in the 1980's.

He was a low key guy personality wise, but could literally become a tyrant in the OR when under stress. I believe those smoke breaks allowed him to retain his gentler composure and allowed him time to contemplate his decision making during complicated procedures.

Absolutely, I'm sure it was the same with this guy as well - when you've got someone's life in your hands you're going to be feeling the pressure. Plus, for smokers nicotine can help focus as well. Not that I'm advocating it as a good thing, but as a nicotine addict I can understand the psychology of it.