Influence of a tobacco-free hospital campus policy on the smoking status of hospital employees

With all U.S. hospitals having eliminated indoor smoking as a result of 1992 Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations standards, an increasing number have begun adopting tobacco-free hospital campus (TFHC) policies. TFHC policies offer even greater protection from ETS exposure to patients, employees, volunteers, and visitors by eliminating all tobacco use on hospital campuses. Such policies may further motivate employees to quit smoking and may support employees' and patients' attempts at quitting by leading to increased availability of and access to cessation services. The University of North Carolina (UNC) Health Care system implemented a TFHC policy on July 4, 2007. As little research exists documenting the successes, challenges, or effectiveness of TFHC policies, this prospective cohort study examines the impact of UNC Health Care's new TFHC policy on employee smoking behaviors. Current smokers or those quitting within six-months of policy implementation were invited to participate in web-based questionnaires immediately prior to and six-months after implementation of the TFHC. Of the 210 employees in the cohort, 166 (79%) responded to six-month follow-up. 20 smokers (13%) successfully quit smoking in the six-months after implementation of the TFHC policy, and 70 (53%) attempted to quit. Two-thirds of employees—both those who attempted to quit and those who successfully quit—indicated that the TFHC policy was influential in their effort. This presentation describes survey results, discusses the implications for services that can support employees in quitting smoking, and establishes directions for future research for workplace tobacco-free campus policy implementation and compliance.