Banning smoking in a children's hospital: are employees supportive?

This study surveyed 762 professional and auxiliary employees in a large urban children's hospital to assess readiness for a total ban on smoking. The prevalence of never smokers was 63.1%, former smokers was 21.1%, and current smokers was 15.1%. Among nonsmokers, 83% indicated that a children's hospital should be smoke-free. The attitudes of former smokers were almost identical to those of never smokers. Less than half of current smokers (43%) agreed with a ban on smoking which suggests some support for a smoke-free setting even among smokers. In multivariate analysis, smokers, however, were eight times less likely to agree with such a policy, independent of age, sex, and occupation. This study suggests that the majority of employees are supportive of a total ban on smoking but that special efforts to help smokers stop smoking may enhance the effectiveness of a policy banning smoking in a children's health care facility.