Community nurses needed for new respiratory study

Associate Professor Nicola Roberts

Community nurses are being urged to help academics better understand the experiences of nurses who may be exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke during regular home visits to respiratory patients.

Smoking restrictions introduced in the UK in 2006-7 made it illegal to smoke in almost all workplaces and helped to reduce non-smokers' exposure to second-hand smoke in many occupational and public spaces.  

However, there are still some circumstances where workers continue to be exposed to second-hand smoke at work, such as nurses and allied health professionals who regularly visit clients at home to provide care. 

To get a better understanding of nurses’ experiences, researchers at the University of Stirling and Edinburgh Napier University have launched a new online survey called ‘Exposure of Respiratory Nurses to Second-Hand Smoke During Visits to Patients in a Home Setting’.

Associate Professor Nicola Roberts, of the School of Health and Social Care at Edinburgh Napier University, is running the study.

She said: “A small study of domiciliary care workers in Scotland has shown workers who visit homes where smoking takes place may face high concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), a known marker of second-hand smoke in air. 

“There is a need for a greater understanding of the circumstances of second-hand smoke exposure experienced by nurses, and to explore potential solutions to reduce and remove second-hand smoke from the working environment encountered by these staff. 

“Our study explores nurses’ recent experiences of exposure to second-hand smoke when visiting respiratory patients and consists of an online survey. Participants can also volunteer for an additional telephone or online interview.”

Recommendations on minimising exposure to second-hand smoke from the UK Royal College of Nursing have not been updated for more than 15 years, however these did provide recommendations for staff and managers working in the community.

The focus of the guidance issued in 2005 was on patient education to reinforce the need to provide staff visiting homes with a smoke-free space and encouraging patients not to smoke during, and for at least one-hour before, a home visit.

The ‘one-hour’ message was a simple harm-reduction approach and has been overtaken by more recent evidence from Scotland where research showed that second-hand smoke can remain in household air for more than five hours in more than 20 per cent of cases.

Other team members involved in the new study are Elaine Carnegie, Lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University, Yvonne MacNicol, Lecturer at Stirling University and Professor Sean Semple of Stirling University.

For further information, and to complete the survey, click here