Hospital nurse counseling of patients who smoke.

Smoking-related diseases comprise a large portion of hospital admissions. This paper reports the attitudes and behaviors of a group of hospital-based nurses toward counseling patients on smoking cessation. The majority of nurses do not counsel patients who smoke. Counseling practices vary with the smoking status of the nurse. Barriers to increased nursing participation in counseling efforts include the lack of counseling training and physician failure to utilize nurses in this role.