Quote:
Originally Posted by asianthree
in 1969 you could be smoking in the OR lounge as the patient was wheeled by to the OR...funny how things have changed
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When I first started working at a VA Hospital (Gainesville), the patients could smoke cigarettes on the wards. Lots of them had emphysema or other forms of COPD but smoking was still allowed. Later, smoking inside was forbidden but covered smoking huts were placed about 100 feet from the entrances to the hospitals so patients (still with chronic breathing problems) could smoke. Those are still in place.
Last week, I saw a man who had a hard time walking to his car (breathing and wheezing); get into his car and light up a cigarette. Oh yeah, he had a portable oxygen unit he was sucking oxygen from! I imagine (but not sure) he turned off the oxygen when lighting his cigarette.