[Smoking in Norwegian hospitals--status by the end of the year 2000]

Establishing smoke-free hospitals by the end of 1995 was a goal for Norwegian health authorities. The present study reports the smoking status in Norwegian hospitals by the end of the year 2000.

Information was collected by questionnaires sent to all 81 Norwegian hospital directors; 78 (96%) responded.

19 hospitals (27%) were still not smoke-free. The lowest smoke-free rate (60%) was reported from psychiatric institutions. Smoking in all office areas was prohibited while 10% of all hospitals allowed smoking in their cafeterias. Outdoor smoking areas were provided in two thirds of the hospitals. Separate smoking rooms for patients were more common in non-smoke-free hospitals (79%) than in smoke-free institutions. The smoking restrictions were accepted with little resistance, but illicit smoking was not uncommon, even in-house. Sale of tobacco and cigarettes was a widespread practice in the hospitals (63%), irrespective of their smoking policy.

It appears that there is still a long way to go before Norwegian hospitals are really smoke-free. Sale of tobacco and cigarettes should be banned and further restrictive measures from the government are required together with active participation from doctors and nurses as role models and not the least from the patients themselves, in their own best interest.