On 1 January 2013, a group of nurses from the night shift of the ICU at Bellvitge University Hospital (HUB) sealed a "pact" with their health to quit smoking. To do so, they published a picture of their clasped hands on Instagram. They did it in solidarity with a sick colleague who needed support to quit smoking, and they all managed to do it together thanks to the "value of friendship". Nine years later, Laura and Marta are "more than satisfied" to have given up smoking, especially because of the benefits it has brought to their health. Based on this inspiring story, the HUB has created a campaign to mark World No Tobacco Day on 31 May.
The campaign has the involvement of hospital professionals who have quit smoking or are in this process thanks to the support of the Smoking Treatment Unit of the HUB's Preventive Medicine Service. The stories of the personal "pacts" of the hospital team will be spread on social networks to inspire and encourage others to do the same and to share this commitment to their health with their closest friends.
In addition, during the day of 31 May, the theatre company Plàudite Teatre will perform short artistic interventions by their mimes around the Bellvitge hospital grounds. In a friendly and funny way, the mimes will convey well-being and health messages to smokers, both HUB professionals, visitors and patients.
Three steps to implement the "pact with your health".
"When a person decides to give up smoking and achieve behavioural change, they must place value on the benefits they will obtain, so that they are able to overcome the loss of a habit that gives them pleasure," explains Dr Sergio Morchón, from the HUB's Smoking Treatment Unit. In order to achieve this, the specialist suggests three steps:
1. Think about the benefits and motivation: it is necessary to set goals. These may be health, economic or emotional goals, thanks to the release you feel once you have overcome your dependence on tobacco.
2. Take the plunge: there are always fears or reluctance, but it is necessary to take the plunge with the support of those close to you.
3. Point out the value of your progress in relation to your goals: money savings can be up to 2,000 euros a year just by giving up cigarettes. One can also recover daily life activities without suffocating. "The process of quitting smoking implies that sometimes there will be relapses. A relapse is not a failure, but part of the process. Sometimes you manage to quit smoking partially, or you manage to quit completely and then relapse again, but you never go back to the starting point: you always learn something and the next time you set your mind to it, the process will be easier", Dr Morchón pointed out.
Smoking cessation intervention prior to surgery
The HUB's Smoking Treatment Unit operates within the ERAS programme, aimed at improving the recovery of surgical patients, by carrying out a smoking cessation intervention prior to surgery. Since November 2021, the start of the Unit's interventions for smoking cessation in surgical patients, 76% of all of them have achieved initial abstinence, the rest have reduced consumption and 66% abstinence has been achieved in both the first month and the third month. On average, the treated patients had an average consumption of 15 cigarettes per day: 37% had a high nicotine dependence and 63% had made a previous quit attempt.
Other actions to enjoy a smoke-free environment at the HUB
With the aim of promoting healthy behaviour and avoiding the risks associated with smoking, signs have been reinforced in the outdoor areas of the hospital where it has been detected that people tend to go to smoke. In addition, a green stripe has been painted with the text "From here on, smoking is not allowed" at all the entrances to the HUB in order to reinforce the message that the entire hospital grounds, both inside and outside, are a smoke-free area.