[firstyearstudent]

I wonder why posters consider the animal origin of a drug to be significant only to religious people. I'm an atheist and a vegetarian (for ethical reasons) and I'd certainly like to know if my drugs were animal derived and if there were alternatives.

Ooops! I see Student Girl already made this point.

[lauriearcher]

I would think you might want to know where Heparin comes from, as it is a VERY common drug given. And no, I dont believe it "comes" from the pharmacy.

[nickola]

"Saving a life is always preferable to its loss, even if it requires breaking a minor commandment."

well, some patients I've had, such as Christian Scientists may not agree w/the above statement; not sure what a "minor" commandment is either....

[ChayaN]

OK, then should there be a policy that "all patients should be informed of the origin of all drugs"? Or only the most common ones? Or only if the patient is known to belong to a religion that has a ban on pork products? Or only if the patient asks for that information? Since it can get very complicated as to exactly what ingredients a patient might be averse to and for what reason, I think the most sensible approach is to leave it up to the patient to make staff aware of what strictures s/he has, due to religious, philosophical or any other reasons.

[mercyteapot]

Originally Posted by sneaks55

well, some patients I've had, such as Christian Scientists may not agree w/the above statement; not sure what a "minor" commandment is either....

Yes, I was kind of wondering who something termed a commandment could be considered minor, too!

[carolinapooh]

Originally Posted by ChayaN

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.

As usual, Chaya, beautifully said.

[Luv2BAnurse]

I apologize. What I said was worded terribly, I can see how I was misunderstood. I only meant that it never occured to me to tell of a medication's origin. In the respect of where a med comes from I have told patients that as soon as it comes from pharmacy, I'd bring it in...any med... I am not so naive as to think that they miraculously appear in a pharmacy. Neither would I knowingly hold any information from a patient that they may need or want to know. It seems the more I try to explain what I had originally stated, the deeper hole I am digging. I wasn't taking the pt's "need to know" lightly. Words are only a part of our communication. I don't know about anyone else, but sometimes when I don't know something I do laugh at myself...which is precisely what I was doing on my original post. Others were talking about knowing origins of meds...I don't know them and was actually a bit surprised that you all did. It seems to be something I should know in order to benefit my patients more. I can only hope that this made sense to you all, so you do not think there are nurses out there trying to get something over on others, I am not one of them.

[ChayaN]

Originally Posted by sneaks55

well, some patients I've had, such as Christian Scientists may not agree w/the above statement; not sure what a "minor" commandment is either....

Well, I don't know exactly what your friend had in mind, but in Judaism, there are three "major" commandments which you may not violate to save your life: Idol-worship, murder and adultery. All other commandments are considered minor in this respect. This means that if you need to eat/ingest something non-kosher to save your life, you may do so, if the kosher substitute is not easily available.

[firstyearstudent]

Good point, ChayaN! Nurses are busy enough without having to second guess the special needs of special patients.

However, most nurses probably aren't educated or sensitive enough to these issues to respond knowledgably about the origins of heparin or other drugs when asked directly. (As a students, this is news to me!)

But that's why a bulletin board like this is so great.

[Marie_LPN, RN]

And also to keep in mind, this could be a minor thing to one person and a huge deal to another.