Smoke-free hospitals in Greece: Personnel perceptions, compliance and smoking habit

• Published in: Tobacco induced diseases 2009-03, Vol.5 (1), p.8-8
• Main Authors: Vardavas, Constantine I, Bouloukaki, Izolde, Linardakis, Manolis K, Tzilepi, Penelope, Tzanakis, Nikos, Kafatos, Anthony G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Control; Evaluation; Greece; Health aspects; Health care; Health policy; Health services; hospital personnel; Hospitals; Laws, regulations and rules; Legislation; Medical personnel; Medical research; No-smoking policies; Personnel; Public health law; second hand smoke; second hand smoke exposure; Service centers; Short Report; Smoke; Smokers; Smoking; Smoking bans; smoking cessation; smoking cessation service
• ISSN: 1617-9625; 2070-7266; 1617-9625
• DOI: 10.1186/1617-9625-5-8

Smoke-free environments in Greece are scarce. Despite existent legislation that forbids smoking in all health care service centers, smoking is still evident. Using a random sample of hospital personnel from a large university hospital in Greece, we evaluated their smoking habits, perceptions and compliance towards hospital smoking regulations. 57.8% of the nursing personnel and 34.5% of medical/research staff were found to be current smokers (p < 0.05). Although 66% of the staff does not oppose the complete hospital smoking ban, 95% responded that they would prefer it to be partial. The above findings warrant the necessity for nurturing efforts to reduce smoking and increase the health professionals' awareness of their position as a role model to both patients and the society.