Smoking behavior and attitudes toward smoking among hospital nurses.

We examined smoking prevalence, smoking behavior, and attitudes toward smoking in hospitals in 1,380 respondents among 1,719 registered nurses in a large urban teaching hospital. In this group, current prevalence of smoking in hospital nurses (22 per cent) was less than women in the general population (29 per cent). Smoking nurses were more likely than nonsmokers to hold attitudes which potentially reduce their efficacy in helping patients to stop smoking.