Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #121122

Stella Aguinaga Bialous, RN, DrPH, Consultant, 676 Funston Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94118, 415-876-2990, stella@bialous.com and Linda Sarna, RN, DScN, School of Nursing, University of California Los Angeles, Box 956918, Factor 4-262, Los Angeles, CA 90095-6918.

The over 2.3 million working Registered Nurses (RNs) are an underappreciated and underutilized resource in the fight against tobacco. Continued smoking among nurses, limited nursing leadership and advocacy, and lack of education/skills are barriers to involvement. This symposium will present current activities of the Tobacco Free Nurses (TFN), a nurse-led initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to reduce these barriers. The TFN (www.tobaccofreenurses.org) is the first-ever initiative to support cessation efforts of the estimated 15% of nurses who smoke and to provide resources for all nurses in prevention, cessation, reduction of exposure to secondhand smoke, and advocacy. Information will be provided as to the feasibility and utilization of a website to disseminate information to nurses impact, and utilization of Nurses Quitnet. Efforts to build nursing leadership in tobacco control will also be described. In partnership with UCSF Smoking Cessation Leadership Center, targeted and supportive efforts have been made to reach out to a variety of nursing organizations to enhance system and organizational level changes to increase nursing involvement in tobacco control. An example of nursing leadership in the field will demonstrate how nursing organizations can make a difference. Finally, we will discuss the emergence of a new nursing advocacy organization, the Nightingales, that works to focus public attention on the role of the tobacco industry and public health.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the contributions that nurses are making in tobacco control
• Identify strategies to enhance nursing contributions to tobacco control
• Describe opportunities and challenges for nurses in tobacco control

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.