SMOKING-BEHAVIOR OF HOSPITAL STAFF

Due to a lack of data available nt the national level, on smoking beha viour-of hospital staff a survey was carried out in a representative s ample of hospitals. This survey, which will be repeated in the future, should enable to evaluate preventive actions at hospital and to measu re the implication level of the hospital staff in tobacco prevention. The analysis of data collected among 3082 persons shows that a third o f the the hospital staff smokes. Among these persons a certain part sm oke at their working place, this proportion is varying considerably wi th the working area in the hospital. The more this area is close to th e patient the less is hospital staff smoking. More than one third of t he interviewers (37.3%) think that trying to convince people to stop s moking is part of their-role; this opinion varies considerably dependi ng on the professionnal activity in the hospital. In addition a very l arge majority (81.4%) of the hospital staff considers that it has an e xemplary role to play in front of patients. This belief is shared equa lly by all the different groups of staff. The smoking prevalence among hospital staff is equivalent to that of the general population; this underlines the need and the necessity to realize anti-tobacco campaign s among this health care population. Moreover since the exemplary role they have to play, is very well accepted, preventive actions could re ly on a good level of participation.