Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2009, 6(1), 246-258; doi:10.3390/ijerph6010246
Article

Smoke-Free Medical Facility Campus Legislation: Support, Resistance, Difficulties and Cost

Christine Sheffer 1,* email, Maxine Stitzer 2 email and J. Gary Wheeler 3 email
1 Health Behavior and Health Education Department, College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 West Markham St #820, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA 2 Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, 5510 Nathan Shock, USA 3 Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 West Markham St Little Rock, AR 72205, USA
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 13 October 2008 / Accepted: 6 January 2009 / Published: 13 January 2009
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smoking and Tobacco Control)
PDF Full-text Download PDF Full-Text [189 KB, uploaded 13 January 2009 10:13 CET]
Abstract: Although medical facilities restrict smoking inside, many people continue to smoke outside, creating problems with second-hand smoke, litter, fire risks, and negative role modeling. In 2005, Arkansas passed legislation prohibiting smoking on medical facility campuses. Hospital administrators (N=113) were surveyed pre- and post-implementation. Administrators reported more support and less difficulty than anticipated. Actual cost was 10-50% of anticipated cost. Few negative effects and numerous positive effects on employee performance and retention were reported. The results may be of interest to hospital administrators and demonstrate that state legislation can play a positive role in facilitating broad health-related policy change.
Keywords: Smoke-free hospitals; public smoking bans; secondhand tobacco smoke; tobacco smoking; health effects; legislated policy change

Article Statistics

Click here to load and display the download statistics.

Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Sheffer, C.; Stitzer, M.; Wheeler, J.G. Smoke-Free Medical Facility Campus Legislation: Support, Resistance, Difficulties and Cost. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2009, 6, 246-258.

AMA Style

Sheffer C, Stitzer M, Wheeler JG. Smoke-Free Medical Facility Campus Legislation: Support, Resistance, Difficulties and Cost. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2009; 6(1):246-258.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sheffer, Christine; Stitzer, Maxine; Wheeler, J. Gary. 2009. "Smoke-Free Medical Facility Campus Legislation: Support, Resistance, Difficulties and Cost." Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 6, no. 1: 246-258.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health EISSN 1660-4601 Published by MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland RSS E-Mail Table of Contents Alert