Q. There is some concern about having a smoke free campus and putting that policy in writing. What are your requirements regarding this?
The Joint Commission standards give the proper impetus and support for an organization to move to a smoke free campus although this is not a requirement. The rationale for prohibiting smoking is that it will reduce the following: (1) Health risks to people who smoke, including possible adverse effects on care, treatment, and services; (2) Health risks of passive smoking; (3) Risk of fire. Ensuring compliance requires the organization to implement a monitoring process and to implement strategies to eliminate the incidence of policy violations, when identified. The organization is expected to be able to demonstrate that it has embraced its policy by educating staff, by offering smoking cessation options, and by illustrating measures taken to pro-actively assess compliance with the policy, coupled with steps taken to deal with policy violations.