Lecturas de Una Tradicion Literaria Argentina y Construccion de Una Nacion (Ensayo Critico‪)‬

Over the past few years, there has been a large drive to initiate public and national smoking cessation programs, as well as policies to ban smoking from restaurants, hospitals, bars, and other public establishments. It is another issue to consider if smoking should be banned from psychiatric hospitals. Smoking rates among individuals with mental illness are at least two times that of the general population (Sacco et al., 2004). It is estimated that over 70% of patients with schizophrenia are heavy smokers (Dursun & Kutcher, 1999). When patients with chronic mental illness are admitted into inpatient facilities, they are often stripped of many privileges, including that of smoking. While many hospitals still allow smoking for their psychiatric inpatients, many of them have gone smoke-free, creating multiple adverse effects for the patient. The absence of smoking can cause severe nicotine withdrawal in patients, as well as increase the potential for aggressive behavior. Nurses who practicein psychiatric facilities need to be aware of how the lack of smoking can affect patients with mental illness.