How bad does smoking look while on rotations?

[NITRAS]

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I do think we could eventually see soda free campuses or not hiring above certain bmis

Our campus only caries the little cans of regular soda in the vending machines. Regular sized diet sodas.

 

[Giovanotto]

Nicotine is absolutely horrible for you.

So is ignorance.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

So is ignorance.

And please do tell how ignorant I am being with that statement.

 

[Robin-jay]

I am currently a third year medical student on rotations and have been (unsuccessfully) trying to quit smoking for the past few years. I tend to go on smoke breaks with some of the nurses and have been kind of apprehensive about how this may look to my superiors. Do attendings generally look down on students/residents who smoke and could this sort of behavior affect evaluations and/or letters of recommendation in the future?

Didn't you ever do cadaver dissections and see smoker lungs?

 

[Small Cell Carcinoma]

Didn't you ever do cadaver dissections and see smoker lungs?

Yes, actually.........I wish I never started, but quitting is very very hard to impossible for me. Especially given the constant pressure/stresses of medical school.

 

[Robin-jay]

Yes, actually.........I wish I never started, but quitting is very very hard to impossible for me. Especially given the constant pressure/stresses of medical school.

You're in medical school, so you should know a plausible solution to your problem would be to gradually take less smoke breaks over time.

I haven't looked into the optimum solution, but I would imagine a logical schedule would be something like:

week 1-2, smoke 1 less cigarette than usual
week 3-4, smoke 2 less than usual
month 2: smoke 3 less than usual

Something like that. If you can't slowly wean off of an addiction (even one as tedious as nicotine), then you aren't doing it right. Your body will have a tremendously difficult time stopping cold turkey, cutting down half the cigs right away, etc.

However, weaning very slowly should suffice. If you can't handle one less smoke break a day, then you're doing something wrong.

Disclaimer: I'm a med student, not a physician, but this solution seems reasonable to me.

 

[eeyore spice]

Yes, actually.........I wish I never started, but quitting is very very hard to impossible for me. Especially given the constant pressure/stresses of medical school.

What quitting methods have you tried? There are more out there than you may realize.

 

[sunshinefl]

Yes, actually.........I wish I never started, but quitting is very very hard to impossible for me. Especially given the constant pressure/stresses of medical school.

I quit 7.5 years ago. I used the nicotine patches. Changed them in the morning when I woke up. System set up for 4 weeks on Step 1, 2 weeks on Step 2, And 2 weeks on Step 3, but I did each step in half the time-2/1/1. Never picked up another nicotine product again, during or since, not even once.

 

[Philosopher Jagger]

Wouldn't do it on a pulmonology elective

 

[ciestar]

My issue is, and from my experience many others, is that the smell on clothing can trigger allergies and asthma. For me, it is the asthma piece and quite a few things send me into a fit (formaldehyde and chlorhexidine being examples). So, that definitely plays a role, which is why I’ve bans on health care workers from wearing strong perfume/cologne, strongly scented lotions, etc.

 

[Small Cell Carcinoma]

Before I decided to take on the medical path, I thought that medical practitioners who smoke aren't practicing what they preach. I mean, they should set an example for their patients and other people because they're the ones who help people to become healthy and fit yet they smoke and they pass on that second hand smoke to other people. I find it very ironic. However, now I understand that the medical field is indeed stressful and that some people cope with it by smoking. I think it would just be be best not to let anyone see it.

Yeah, I started in high school right around the time I started applying to college, so stress has definitely been a big part of my inability to quit. On another note though, I think current attitudes towards smoking in medicine are a relatively recent development for the most part. It was much more accepted in the past than it seems to be now. For example, my grandfather was a physician (now retired) and he once told me that when he was in medical school back in the 1960s, students/instructors would use the top of the skull as an ashtray in anatomy lab. Today, we are getting to a point where users of nicotine substances are being barred from finding employment in hospitals. Interesting to see how dramatically things can change.

 

[CherryRedDracul]

Wouldn't do it on a pulmonology elective

Funny how I knew quite a few pulm fellows who were ex-smokers.

Maybe that's what drew them into the field in the first place.

 

[deleted314957]

I was a heavy smoker from age 16 to 48 and even I quit. You may not realize it but you smell like an ash tray. Any ex smoker can smell you if you enter a room.
I was only able to pull it off because it was a VERY different era and I was a pathologist. And to answer your question, yes it will annoy lots of folks and will do you no good in ANY way.

 

[Rhein]

No doubt that smoking is absolutely harmful, unlike the controversial views on using alcohol (in a small amount of course). I’ve read in the article on VapingDaily that more and more hospitals refuse to hire smokers. I think this is the right decision, the reputation of this hospitals depends on this.

 

[Baxter56]

I bought the book "how to stop smoking" by Allen Carr and she quit as soon as she finished it. She lent the book to 2 more people and they also quit. Just a thought!