Medical staffing personnel: Fewer Americans think e-cigarettes are safe

As healthcare staffing professionals may have heard, e-cigarettes are rising in popularity. Yet as Americans learn more about the vapor-producing cigarettes, they are becoming less likely to believe that the devices are a safer choice than tobacco products. In 2010, almost 85 percent of smokers believed e-cigarettes were safer than traditional cigarettes, but that number fell to 65 percent of smokers in 2013, according to a report published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

For travel nursing professionals, this is a great sign. While the vapor-emitting product has not been on the market long enough to be sufficiently tested, the device still poses health risks. Like their traditional counterpart, e-cigarettes contain nicotine, the main ingredient and highly addictive chemical as well as other irritants, animal carcinogens and genotoxins. Infamously, tobacco smoke is known to cause lung cancer, cancers of the esophagus, larynx, throat and mouth, heart problems, gum disease and pregnancy complications.

Researchers for the study, who used data from the Health Information National Trends Survey, found that Americans’ awareness of e-cigarettes increased from about 16 percent in 2009 to 77 percent in 2013. But despite this uptick in awareness, the devices are still becoming more popular. Estimates predict that sales of e-cigarettes will soon reach $1.7 billion in the U.S., according to Health Day. Those on travel nursing jobs can help spread the word about e-cigarettes, providing resources to patients about the dangers of smoking.

“This apparent decline in smokers’ beliefs about reduced harm of e-cigarettes compared with regular cigarettes is perplexing against the background of advertising and media messages touting e-cigarettes as safer alternatives and cessation aids,” study co-investigator Cabral Bigman, from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, said in a journal news release.

Bigman believes that one explanation may be because the FDA has not approved the emerging tobacco products, alongside health concerns from toxic chemicals in e-cigarettes that have given consumers conflicting information.

Rising smoke of e-cigarettes
Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered inhalers that use refillable cartridges to provide doses of nicotine and other additives. Most are designed to look like a tobacco cigarette, although some look like USB drives, pens or other commonplace objects. While the device has been considered a substitute for traditional cigarettes and a method for quitting smoking, the U.S. Food and Drug Association does not regulate these devices.

To expand on this, places across the country have started banning smoking e-cigarettes in any place where smoking regular cigarettes is prohibited, such as offices, restaurants, bars, offices, parks and beaches.

In April 2014, the FDA proposed regulations governing the fast-growing electronic cigarette industry. These new rules would regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products and place them under the same requirements, much like what New York and Chicago have done.

One of the leading brands of electronic cigarettes carries vapors with four ingredients: propylene glycerol, vegetable glycerin, nicotine and flavorings. In addition to e-cigarettes packing the main ingredient as regular cigarettes, state legislatures said that some vapors are made from poor ingredients.

As of now, because of the limited studies on e-cigarettes, it’s likely best to steer clear of them. Any claims that they help reduce health threats posed by regular cigarettes are likely premature, Bigman told HealthDay. Medical staffing professionals are hopeful that more information and evidence will be available on the health risks of the emerging product in the upcoming years.

For smokers and other patients interested in e-cigarettes, you can provide resources with helpful information to help keep your patients healthy and warn about the dangers of smoking.