AIBU to be surprised doctors ask about smoking but not vaping?

When it comes to the general public, in this setting, you absolutely have to imagine everyone is 5 years old - sounds patronising as hell but even illiterate people need medical treatment.
Do you drink , should be Do you drink alcohol .

I agree. I always volunteer the info, then they just shrug because vaping isn't smoking and doesn't carry the systemic threat of smoking.
Not yet, anyway.

You're meant to say no but i vape when they ask this question

Agreed. Same here. And from a medical point of view the ramifications of smoking vs vaping are very different so they do differentiate between the two.

I used to be a nurse and the trust I worked for changed the admission forms to ask if someone smoked and/or vaped. Partly so we could let them know they had to go outside if they vaped, many were trying to do it on the ward.

I've had some medical stuff this year and thought the same thing. Smoking isn't the same thing as vaping. I do always offer 'but I do vape'. Nicotine isn't harmless; there's a lot of evidence that it slows healing/clearing viruses etc. vaping is a relevant risk factor for quite a lot of medical stuff because of that.

Eg. I had a g.a. in Jan and the advice was to stop smoking or vaping 3 days beforehand. I needed to clear a long term virus as well and I was strongly advised to stop vaping any nicotine.

How hard is it to change the question?

So do train stations.

I wouldn't assume smoking included vaping if not explicitly stated.

I'd also assume it was because vaping isn't recognised as a health risk in the same way as smoking tobacco is and so data isn't being collected on that.

I reckon they haven't distinguished it yet because vaping is steam + flavour and often nicotine. As a drug nicotine is not dangerous, but addictive. I suppose there will be a pile on now to say how bloody awful they are. That's not the point, the steam/vapour might be annoying to the point of madness, but the effect of vapes in the user is not seen as dangerous YET!

I'm on the fence, as I would much prefer to see my relative vaping for example than crawling the walls in withdrawal from fags and eventually taking up cigarettes again.

It's an ongoing debate. I personally don't mind them, there are worse things people can do around me and until they are banned I live and let live.

The app we use in the hospital I work in asks if patient’s smoke, it doesn’t ask about vaping and there is no where to add it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Hotel rooms say no smoking or vaping - so they differentiate!

That’s pretty shocking. You would think they could build in a bit of awareness of the nuances here.

"they don't class vaping as smoking"
As an ex smoker now vaper this has been my experience too, with GPs, hospital Drs, in fact all clinical staff, vaping not classed as smoking.

I guess its partly because doctors have to follow data in their recommendations: there’s a huge body of clinical evidence establishing that smoking tobacco is bad for pretty much every aspect of human health.

With vapes its logical to assume they are harmful and there is some data linking them with health issues but its fairly preliminary and we don’t have enough long term data to confirm this. (Also if history is a guide the companies making vapes and ecigarettes will be doing their damndest to stop this making its way into the public domain.

It takes a while to build that evidence base and the NHS moves at the pace of a constipated dinosaur so it probably hasn’t made its way into the pathways yet.

I might be wrong and I would be interested to hear what medics say.

Mine does. I have chronic asthma and during my reviews, I’m always asked if I smoke and/or vape. (I don’t and never have.)

I’ve been told that I’d be surprised of the number of people who deny smoking, but vape heavily. Hence, why my medical practice tend to specify both smoking and vaping.

When I was vaping after quitting smoking every time I filled in a healthy questionnaire and was asked about smoking I said I don't smoke but I do vape and the HCP would always tell me to tick "No" then. It was the same in maternity services when I was pregnant, they said they don't class vaping as smoking.

True, but there are far more disgusting things going on to get riled up about these days IMO.

Not you.... but there are some permanently offended people out there!

Yes I know people who say they don't smoke but they have a vape needing surgical removal at their mouths the whole time. I think vaping is disgusting but surprised the op did not get asked also as it is very harmful too.

I know plenty of people who have given up smoking and taken up vaping. To the question "do you smoke" they would answer "no, I've given up."

You know, they have a script, just like telephone pests, they have a script. OSCE exams at med school - they train them to ask all the relevant questions in a short amount of time and this is all learnt by rote, no room for brain work, they use a script, one for COPD, one for arrhythmia, etc., etc. Everything is scripted. They are timed as well! Like a Japanese factory in the early 1980s (I saw documentaries). So one day they will send them a new script, only this time for adults, not students - NICE guidelines and they will start asking about vaping.

Most patients who vape tell me they do so when I ask about smoking. I've never thought to ask separately about vaping because I consider it under the same umbrella as smoking, as do friends who vape.
It's an interesting point; might consider asking separately in future.

I had an app the other day and the nurse asked if I smoked of vaped.

My relative (a proper cynic!) says he never tells medics he smoked when younger or that he vapes occasionally now. His theory is that no matter what the heck is wrong with you, the medics immediately blame the cigs/vapes and often don't consider much else! Well of course they do, but that's his theory anyway, and all his chest x rays, bloods etc. are clear these days at 70 yrs old.

He's not giving up the vapes at this stage he said. And honestly.... I don't blame him either.