Objectives Understanding the smoking status in medical staffs and smoking control in medical institutions in Jingmen City, in order to provide scientific basis for further improving the capability of smoking control.

Method The survey was conducted by questionnaires and observational records among 400 medical staffs in 18 medical institutions.

Results The overall smoking rate in 400 medical staffs was 49.3%. The smoking rate in males was 80.5% and that in females was 8.6%, the difference between male and female was statistically significant(P < 0.05). The smoking rate in the group elder than 50 years of age was the highest(73.2%), the smoking rate in the group younger than 30 years of age was the lowest(33.7%, P < 0.05). Most of smokers were in the low education group(P < 0.05). No difference on smoking rate was observed between stuffs in different levels of medical institutions(P < 0.05). The smoking rate of stuffs in the department of surgery was high(82.3%), and it was low in the department of gynaecology and obstetrics(1.8%, P < 0.05). The smoking-related knowledge of 400 medical stuffs was poor. Only 10.2% of medical staffs were smoking in the designated smoking area, and 47.2% of medical staffs were usually smoking in offices. The smoking control in health service station and private hospitals was relatively poor. Smoking control, advocacy and training on smoking control, implementation of smoking control measures were good in tertiary-level and secondary-level hospitals, but relatively poor in health service stations and private hospitals.

Conclusion The smoking rate in medical staffs was high, efforts to improve smoking control in some medical institutions need to be strengthened.