Going smoke-free in the 1990s: lessons learned at a teaching hospital

Simple measures may be all that are needed for hospitals considering implementing smoke-free policies in the 1990s. At Long Beach Memorial Medical Center in California, smoking cessation programs were offered to staff, as were employee education programs. Patients were offered help in quitting smoking and access to nicotine replacement therapy. The hospital found that enforcement of no smoking policies was relatively easy because people were used to smoke-free policies on airlines, shopping malls, and other public places. The hospital did set aside three outdoor smoking areas that were not too close to hospital entrances to eliminate smoking in bathrooms and a few other indoor places. A free consult for patients who were smokers may have been the most effective program for patients who took advantage of it. Medical institutions going smoke-free in the 1990s may not need to go through expensive programs to successfully enforce no smoking policies.