Implementing effective tobacco-free hospital policies and treatment protocols

Audience: This poster presentation will be highly relevant to anyone involved in tobacco-free environmental policy change, particularly those working within hospitals or other clinical settings. Specifically, those in public health and healthcare would benefit. The lessons learned can be applied to tobacco-free policies at other community sites. 

Key Points: Hospitals can set an example for their community by implementing campus policies that create a tobacco-free environment for patients, staff and visitors. Such policies demonstrate a strong commitment to health and safety, yet concerns among multiple stakeholders must also be considered and addressed when making these changes. A broad-based committee, supported by hospital leadership and including representatives from all stakeholders (nursing and medical staff, patient advocates, pharmacy, security, volunteer services, employee health, unions, etc), is essential for crafting an acceptable policy and ensuring a smooth transition.

Educational Experience: This poster will allow the audience to learn through case studies that describe how several hospitals in King County, WA developed and implemented tobacco-free campuses and tobacco treatment protocols as part of a CDC-funded Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) grant initiative. Lessons learned from our processes will be shared and discussed with viewers of the poster.

Benefits: With the recent Joint Commission measure sets on tobacco use and treatment, along with the meaningful use clause in the Affordable Care Act, this work is extremely timely. The poster will link this CPPW project with these initiatives.