Attitudes of patients and staff towards tobacco smoking in hospital.

The aim of this paper was to establish the frequency and intensity of smoking by the patients and hospital staff and to define the attitudes of the polled persons towards smoking tobacco on the premises of the hospital and their opinions about the limitations in force. The examination in the form of a distributed questionnaire, comprised 101 patients and 127 staff members of Henryk Klimontowicz Specialist Hospital in Gorlice (province of Małopolska /Little Poland/). Both mobile and bed-ridden patients participated in the study. The personnel was represented by physicians, nurses, ward attendants, psychologists, secretaries, Medical University students doing their apprenticeships on the premises of the hospital, employees of technical and administrative departments. The study was carried out by means of a diagnostic sounding with the use of a distributed questionnaire technique in the period from September 2002 to July 2003. The questionnaire contained 38 questions, including closed, open, half-open and multiple-choice questions. In our poll we used the Fagerstrom test, which determined the type of addiction to smoking tobacco (physical or psychological), and which was completed by tobacco-smokers. The statistical analysis was carried out by means of the Chi2 test for independence, assuming the significance level of 0.05. The obtained results were analyzed according to the sex of the polled persons and their functions in the premises of the hospital (patient, staff member). The results of the obtained analysis show that 13.9% of the polled patients of the Specialist Hospital in Gorlice smoked cigarettes every day. The percentage of everyday smokers among the staff of this hospital was significantly higher and equalled 18.1%. Half of the polled persons were exposed to passive smoking on the premises of the hospital, the staff more than the patients. The patients supported the restrictions concerning smoking on the premises of the hospital to a greater extent than the personnel. Most of the smokers claimed that they were trying to cut down on smoking on the premises of the hospital. Despite these declarations, tobacco-smokers smoked cigarettes in the area of the hospital anyway, and one fifth of the smokers smoked also outside the places designed for that purpose.