I'm going to probably open a can of worms here, but I want your opinion

This is assuming that you know the origin of the med and assuming that you know this med might present a religious problem for the patient. But IMO this is a lot of assuming for a nurse to do. If a patient knows s/he might have a religious issue with a med or treatment it's their job to disclose that information and not rely on the nurse's knowlege of halacha or sharia.

As an Orthodox Jew I don't have a problem with an injectible drug. Drugs that are injested are a problem according to some rabbis (for example gelatin capsules) but then the issue depends on the availability of other brands, how critical the patient is, etc. But I wouldn't consider it the nurse's job to tell me "this pill might contain gelatin, do you have a problem with it?" Rather, it would be my job to let the nurse know that I have an issue with gelatin capsules. I wouldn't want a nurse to hold back from giving me a medication I needed based on her faulty knowledge of my religious practices.

Fotografe wrote: it's called INFORMED CONSENT -- which is required as the result of what the NAZIs did in WWII. This international law was borne of the Nuremburg trials.

administeriing even a placebo -- which is harmless in every way -- requires informed consent.

violating informed consent constitutes criminal negligence. it's a slam dunk! and a fast track to court.

I still believe that it's the patient's job to disclose their religious views and to ask what's in the drug before they take it, if it's important to them. I don't see how it's an ethical violation for a nurse not to disclose information that she was not told is significant. If the patient noted their religious requirements in their chart and their wishes were not honored, that's an ethical violation. With everything that nurses have to do/remember, I don't expect them to keep my religious preferences in mind unless I explicitly tell them. There are many different customs/rulings/practices even within Judaism or Islam and a nurse can't be expected to keep track of them all. I don't see why you'd want to even go there as a nurse - do you want to be blamed now for inadvertantly causing a patient to violate a religious stricture that they didn't inform you of? As a protection for you, the standard should be that the onus is on the patient to inform the healthcare provider of their religious needs.