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AIBU?

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Original poster

Using E-cigarette in a meeting

406 replies

StrawberryShortbread2001 · 04/01/2020 11:37

I'm a support worker and work on a ward. E-cigs are allowed in the communal rooms (lounge, dining room) and the bedrooms. The only time they're not allowed is in ward round.

We were having a community meeting which we have every week. E-cigarettes are allowed to be used during the meeting. This was a special meeting about a certain issue so as well as the usual service users, nurses, support workers, occupational therapists and social worker - the consultant, head social worker, psychologist and hospital manager were there. One of the service users was engaging and putting a point across with a bit of back and forth. She was using her e-cig when not talking. Suddenly the hospital manager looked at her a bit horrified and said 'are you smoking?' She said 'No! I'm using a e-cigarette' The consultant then jumped in to say she shouldn't be using it. She was embarrassed and confused at being called out on it and stopped engaging in the meeting. At the end she spoke to the consultant to tell him they always used e-cigarettes in the merting and he told her she should have known not to use it and she needs to be more flexible in her thinking.

Am I right to think 1. If e-cigs weren't to be used it should have been announced at the beginning of the meeting and 2. She shouldn't have been called out in public like that

It caused the service user a lot of upset and has really wound me up!

OP posts:
BlueSuffragette · 04/01/2020 11:42

Sorry but I just cant imagine why anybody would think it was ok to smoke/vape anything during a professional work meeting. They should only be used on breaks.

NeverTwerkNaked · 04/01/2020 11:44

I am astonished e cigs are allowed to be used inside anywhere. They are as horrible as cigarettes and I would refuse to stay at a meeting where someone was using one

TyneTeas · 04/01/2020 11:45

I am surprised that it was okay to vape in the meeting at all, but if it had been allowed previously it should have been either announced or handled differently

IlsSortLaPlupartAuNuitMostly · 04/01/2020 11:46

Did you read the bit that said that this was a “service user” (aka patient) Blue? She doesn’t have breaks.

UpperLowercaseSymbolNumber · 04/01/2020 11:48

I’m amazed they are allowed at all. I cannot imagine being in a professional meeting with people smoking through them and it wouldn’t occur to me to say so at the start more than I would say nobody should start a conga or strip naked.

WorraLiberty · 04/01/2020 11:48

YABU. She was pretty ignorant not to ask those around her if they minded anyway, regardless of the policy.

CakeAndGin · 04/01/2020 11:49

8 years ago, a colleague started using an e-cig inside. The company set a policy then that e-cigarettes were the same as smoking and could only be done in the designated smoking area. I am so surprised that e-cigarettes are allowed indoors at all, let alone in communal areas in a hospital. I can understand if they don’t want patients walking to the main entrance but there should probably only be one room that is smoking and the rest smoke free.

Aside from that, no your colleague shouldn’t be smoking in a meeting.

UpperLowercaseSymbolNumber · 04/01/2020 11:49

I have to say in this I feel very sorry for th service users who don’t vape having all their spaces filled with the nasty vaping stuff. Yes sure it isn’t cigarette smoke but there is a reason it is treated the same in terms of whether pubs, coffee shops, hotels etc will let you vape indoors.

recrudescence · 04/01/2020 11:50

They are as horrible as cigarettes

No, they’re not.

Cornettoninja · 04/01/2020 11:50

I agree with you it wasn’t appropriate to put the service user on the spot like that in front of everybody. I think the hospital manager should be apologising for not bringing up the issue in a more private situation.

Going forward I think it’s a disservice to your service users to not treat vaping the same as smoking when the rest of the country does. It muddies the waters and leads to situations like this where expectations are completely out of kilter and lead to embarrassment and distress. As long as boundaries are implemented with ways for the SU to still exercise their choice to vape then it should be fine.

Kerning · 04/01/2020 11:50

Strange policy to allow them at all, but if it is the policy why didn't everyone at the meeting know that?

malmi · 04/01/2020 11:51

It wasn't a staff member using it but a 'service user' i.e. patient/customer. If they have been told they are allowed then all staff should know this so they can either object or hold their objections.

But I don't think people should be allowed to vape in such a meeting in the first place. Vaping should have the same restrictions as smoking.

MT2017 · 04/01/2020 11:51

Amazed she thought it was appropriate and that you thought there needed to be an official announcement Confused

BlueSuffragette · 04/01/2020 11:51

Ok sorry missed that it was a service user who was vaping. Nevertheless they could do it before /after the meeting and not during it.

WorraLiberty · 04/01/2020 11:51

Plus she wasn't 'called out'. She was told she shouldn't be using it.

The only acceptable response there imo, would've been to apologise, put it away and carry on with the meeting.

NeverTwerkNaked · 04/01/2020 11:53

@recrudescence in my experience they are. It is deeply unpleasant being near anyone using one and I believe in time they will be found to be harmful too.

WorraLiberty · 04/01/2020 11:54

I agree with you it wasn’t appropriate to put the service user on the spot like that in front of everybody. I think the hospital manager should be apologising for not bringing up the issue in a more private situation.

What? Confused

So everyone should've just put up and shut up until the end of the meeting?

There's only one person who should be apologising and that's the person who thought it was appropriate to use an E.Cig in a meeting.

Ishotmrburns · 04/01/2020 11:54

Sounds like a communication problem. You don't really expect any indoor spaces to allow e-cigs, so if he thought they weren't allowed he probably would be quite shocked to see her using one.

Original poster
StrawberryShortbread2001 · 04/01/2020 11:55

Vapes aren't allowed - only e-cigarettes. They don't cause hardly any smoke/smell.

@BlueSuffragette - it wasn't a professionals meeting it was a community meeting for service users.

@NeverTwerkNaked - the ward is the service users home - most of them smoke - but of course they can't smoke on the ward so e-cigs are allowed. We are with the service users all the time - not just at meetings so can't refuse to be around them!

Service users often use e-cigarettes as a coping strategy/self soothe. It is difficult for many to speak in front of others especially the manager etc. Most service users don't engage but this one was trying and using her e-cigarette to manage her anxiety.

OP posts:
SimonJT · 04/01/2020 11:55

If vaping is allowed in doors all visitors, both professionals and guests need to be made fully aware, so if they wish they can choose not to be in that environment.

To vape in a meeting is incredibly rude, if I was attempting a meeting with someone who chose to do that I would be frustrated that they weren’t even showing basic manners.

I’m a smoker and I sometimes vape, even if someone invited me to do it inside I wouldn’t as it’s innapropriate.

jakeyboy1 · 04/01/2020 11:55

The only place I have seen e-cigs in a meeting was in a public sector meeting and it was a staff member. I was astounded. May as well just crack open a glass of wine and a bag of crisps!

Cherrysoup · 04/01/2020 11:56

in my experience they are. It is deeply unpleasant being near anyone using one and I believe in time they will be found to be harmful too.

Plenty of research already saying they are. It’s incredibly unprofessional for someone to be using an e-cig during a meeting. Who decided that ridiculous policy?

LadyMacbethWasMisunderstood · 04/01/2020 11:58

A consultant should not have humiliated a service user (which I assume is a patient - probably vulnerable) in that way in public. I can see that in some health care situations (mental health?) the use of e cigarettes is the least of the worries. I think you should take this up with the consultant - if one is vulnerable then even a mild ‘calling out’ can have a profound impact.

edsheeransgingerbeard · 04/01/2020 11:58

Whatever people's views are on vaping and its appropriateness in this situation, what the hospital manager and consultant did was wrong.
The service user was behaving in what policy stated was an appropriate way. I'm sure vaping helps her manage in stressful situations such as this. The professionals then moved the goal posts in the middle of a really stressful situation, embarrassing her in the process and causing her to disengage.
Those posters saying she shouldn't have done it, should be embarrassed and should have apologised haven't read the OP properly and must have no understanding of the level of illness of someone who is an inpatient on a psychiatric ward.
YANBU OP.

Original poster
StrawberryShortbread2001 · 04/01/2020 11:59

@upperlowercase - not even in the case of them always usually allowed? Service users can't just leave the ward whenever they want/atall so that's why they are allowed inside as well as it being their home and they should have as little restrictions on what they can do in their home as possible just like anyone else.

OP posts: