Hospitals around the Tampa Bay region are ringing in 2011 with a healthy resolution long in the works: extinguishing on-campus smoking. Tampa General Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospitals and the Morton Plant Mease healthcare system are among those becoming smoke-free zones with the start of the year. That means no exceptions. Staffers can't light up in parked cars. Visitors can't smoke in the gardens. And the hospitals are tobacco-free, so there's no resorting to options that don't produce smoke. At Tampa General, employees even asked if they could lean over the sidewalk to smoke over the surrounding water. The answer was no.
In a social media landscape shaped by hashtags, algorithms, and viral posts, nurse leaders must decide: Will they let the narrative spiral, or can they adapt and join the conversation?
...
