Smoking banned in Hospitals

Published on September 14, 2009 8:52 AM

In many European countries smoking was prohibited especially in hospitals, although levels of pliability with this legislation differ. The researchers from the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) has discovered for the first time that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in European hospitals is low, thanks to smoking ban.

Europe doesn’t stop its action against tobacco products, because it wants to see smoking in all closed public places banned by 2012. Nevertheless, to date only 10 European countries, Spain is not among them, are applying this regulation complete.

In 2001 researchers studied 30 hospitals throughout seven European countries (Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Romania and Spain) measured levels of particulates with a diameter of 2.5 micros (known as PM2.5) (μg/m3) or below, which show the presence of environmental tobacco smoke, at six standard sites in each hospital.

The experts suggested at the end of investigation that for to control tobacco addiction national and European regulations should ban smoking in health establishments without any exceptions. In total, 199 PM2.5 measurements were taken, 30 of them in the halls of main hospital entrances, 29 in casualty department waiting rooms, 22 in medical hospitalization units, 27 in cafeterias, 22 on fire escape stairways, 22 in general surgery hospitalization units, and 39 in other places, including eight smokers' areas (in Belgium and Greece).

The results, which have appeared recently, showed that the average level of PM2.5 micro particles in all the countries was 3.0μg/m3, with half of the measurements being between 2.0 and 7.0μg/m3. Eleven of the measurements (5.5%) revealed levels of particulates of more than 25.0μg/m3, which is the limit recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for outside air quality.

Most of the countries studied had placed specific smoking bans in health establishments at the time of the study, although some of these bans permitted smoking in certain places, or even in the restaurants. Investigators concluded that the smoking ban—established to protect the health of patients—had not only transformed the environment of health care institutions but had also had a marked and beneficial effect on the smoking behavior and thus the health of hospital workers.