Employee's knowledge and attitudes towards no-smoking policy in a hospital

Kim, Seong Won; Lee, Hong Kyoon

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Although institution of the no-smoking areas have been required in hospitals since 1995, it has not been evaluated. This study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the current no-smoking areas, and to collect employee's opinions about no-smoking policy in the hospital.
METHODS
The self-administered anonymous survey was distributed to all employees of a university hospital in January 1999. Respondents were asked about their smoking status, awareness and compliance of the no-smoking areas, perception of tobacco smoke during work, preference for the type of no-smoking policy. Differences in outcome variables' distribution by sex, smoking status, and occupation were analyzed using x2 analysis.
RESULTS
The overall response rate for the survey was 65.3%(670/1026). Among the total, 77.9% were females, and mean age of the respondents was 31.6 years (+/-8.0). While the overall smoking prevalence was 10.6%, men's prevalence was 46.6%. Although the awareness of the no-smoking areas was high in most areas, the rate of which all of the 10 no-smoking areas had been well kept was only 15.2%. 47% of non-smokers reported that they could still smell some tobacco smoke while on duty. While 66.5% agreed on the opinion that penal regulations should be strengthened in order not to violate no-smoking areas, only 32.1% agreed on the current policy without penalty. 80% of smokers replied that they would follow the strict no-smoking policy.
CONCLUSION
The current no-smoking areas was not well observed. However, most employees wanted the no-smoking policy with penal regulation. Therefore, this survey could provide a solid foundation to implement a strict no-smoking policy.