rss
Tob Control 2006;15:317-322 doi:10.1136/tc.2005.015388
  • Research paper

An ethnographic study of tobacco control in hospital settings

  1. Annette S H Schultz1,
  2. Joan L Bottorff2,
  3. Joy L Johnson3
  1. 1Faculty of Nursing, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
  2. 2University of British Colombia Okanogan, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
  3. 3University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  1. Correspondence to:
 Dr Annette Schultz
 Helen Glass Centre for Nursing, University of Manitoba, 89 Curry Place, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada; Annette_Schultz{at}UManitoba.ca
  • Received 12 December 2005
  • Accepted 20 April 2006

Abstract

Background: Tobacco control in hospital settings is characterised by a focus on protection strategies and an increasing expectation that health practitioners provide cessation support to patients. While practitioners claim to have positive attitudes toward supporting patient cessation efforts, missed opportunities are the practice norm.

Objective: To study hospital workplace culture relevant to tobacco use and control as part of a mixed-methods research project that investigated hospital-based registered nurses’ integration of cessation interventions.

Design: The study was conducted at two hospitals situated in British Columbia, Canada. Data collection included 135 hours of field work including observations of ward activities and designated smoking areas, 85 unstructured conversations with nurses, and the collection of patient-care documents on 16 adult in-patient wards.

Results: The findings demonstrate that protection strategies (for example, smoking restrictions) were relatively well integrated into organisational culture and practice activities but the same was not true for cessation strategies. An analysis of resources and documentation relevant to tobacco revealed an absence of support for addressing tobacco use and cessation. Nurses framed patients’ tobacco use as a relational issue, a risk to patient safety, and a burden. Furthermore, conversations revealed that nurses tended to possess only a vague awareness of nicotine dependence.

Conclusion: Overcoming challenges to extending tobacco control within hospitals could be enhanced by emphasising the value of addressing patients’ tobacco use, raising awareness of nicotine dependence, and improving the availability of resources to address addiction issues.

Footnotes

  • Financial acknowledgements: This research was supported by doctoral fellowships to Dr Annette Schultz from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), CIHR Transdisciplinary Tobacco Research Training Program, and Heart & Stroke Foundation, and investigators awards from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to Drs Bottorff and Johnson

  • Declaration of competing interests: All three authors have no competing interests to declare, financial or otherwise.

This Article

  1. Abstract
  2. Full text
  3. PDF

Responses

  1. Submit a response
  2. No responses published

Register for free content

The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register hereto access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.

Don't forget to sign up for content alertsso you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.