Muslim Nurse aide

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What are the sort of restrictions a muslim nurse aide would have?

My facility has hired one. I have no problem with it. Except now there are rumors going about that no man can touch her unless she is providing care(some of the men on the units are touchy/huggy-type of people), she refuses to do some parts of care like baths, she wrote up a male CNA for touching her non-sexually as he passed by, can't work in the dining room (it takes almost all the aides to feed everyone), no postmortem care, and other stuff. I'm not sure what part of this is just rumor or what possible restrictions she would have due to her religion. Overall from the rumors, I would be afraid that an LTC could be inappropriate for her. Especially if she was pulled to another unit like the alzheimer's unit (I've had a man chase me to give me a hug!), I could see issues arising.

Thanks for anyone that could help!

Specializes in Pedi.
What are the sort of restrictions a muslim nurse aide would have?

My facility has hired one. I have no problem with it. Except now there are rumors going about that no man can touch her unless she is providing care(some of the men on the units are touchy/huggy-type of people), she refuses to do some parts of care like baths, she wrote up a male CNA for touching her non-sexually as he passed by, can't work in the dining room (it takes almost all the aides to feed everyone), no postmortem care, and other stuff. I'm not sure what part of this is just rumor or what possible restrictions she would have due to her religion. Overall from the rumors, I would be afraid that an LTC could be inappropriate for her. Especially if she was pulled to another unit like the alzheimer's unit (I've had a man chase me to give me a hug!), I could see issues arising.

Thanks for anyone that could help!

No man should be touching any of the women at work, regardless of their religion. I am not religious in the least and would not react well AT ALL if any male colleagues touched me in any way.

Did she actually refuse to do these aspects of her job or are these rumors/assumptions based on the fact that she is (supposedly) Muslim? I have had Muslim colleagues and none of the above were ever an issue. I wouldn't assume that she has any restrictions. Not every Muslim follows the Qur'an to a T just like not every Christian follows the Bible and not every Jew follows the Torah.

Specializes in Cardicac Neuro Telemetry.
I only have one thing to say- if a persons cultural or religious needs conflict with their job, then they need to find a new job. You can not accommodate one or two people at the expense of all the others on that shift. Either suck it up or leave. There are plenty of other jobs that won't require you to handle or sell pork* (or anything else they may object to). People should work somewhere that fits their needs, not expect places to bend to fit them. (outside of reasonable accommodations that doesn't mean people have to pick up the slack).

*Not implying this behaviour is restricted to any single religion or culture, just an example.

Agree with this 100%. It is called reasonable accomodation without undue hardship for a reason. It would not be reasonable to excuse this woman from so many of the core functions of her job just because of her religion. One poster's comparison of being Catholic and not working at Planned Parenthood is a perfect example.

On that note, I agree with the other posters who have suggested to make sure that you clear up what may be rumors. People have a tendency to speculate and gossip at work especially over what they deem a "hot" topic. It would certainly be a hot topic if other aides thought this woman may be getting out of work especially if it impacts them. What you've heard might be a total stretch of the truth/distortion of reality like it often is when it comes to the office water cooler gossip.

I am a Muslim and I was sure to look up my job description therefore I knew what I was getting into and what would be expected of me in terms of care and outside of it.

I care for male patients, work the dining room (I'm not sure why she doesn't?) , etc BUT if I was personally a patient I wouldn't have a male doing personal care or anything where I would need to be exposed in a non-emergency situation.

I also don't touch, hug, etc males outside of care and outside of my family. Not anything against males just a personal preference.

But everyone has different levels of adherence to these things and especially when her personal CULTURE (not religion) plays into some of her views/restrictions as well.

Islam does in fact have gender mingling boundaries but you're caring for somebody in a healthcare setting not in a sexual or casual situation so in my opinion (and others as well) there is a large difference but as I said before some Muslims have different/stricter views & adherence to it so they don't work in healthcare! Simple as that!

My tip is ask her directly in a non-aggressive manner because us allnurses.com gals can give you all the answers in the world but none of us are her so we can only give you general advice, so start a conversation! She won't bite... and if she's rude about it then know that not all of us are and that it's a personality flaw, not a religious thing and just try to respect her boundaries and stay as cordial as possible.

Specializes in Cardiac.

Hey all!

I know this is an OLD topic...but for the record. Within islam there is NO rulings against a Muslim woman providing patient care within a medical setting, ditto for men...this goes for patients of the opposite gender.

I'm a practicing Muslim and rather conservative and I am a Nurse, I did Nursing school and work as a PCT on a acute unit within a hospital. I am just waiting to get a Nursing job-i'm a rather fresh graduate...but I digress.

If a Muslim who takes a medical job that provides direct patient care objects to providing the necessary care then I can bet its most definetly *cultural* reasons and NOT actual religious reasons!

Unfortunately there is a lot of misconceptions about Islam out there and you can many people-even Muslims who assume that their culture is their faith and culture mores are somehow apart of their faith and are generally ignorant about their religion, hence then you have nonMuslims who see those sorts of Muslims doing xyz and assume that Islam-the religion is like that!

But if one looks into the religious texts and scholarly rulings-in islam you have the Quraan (Koran) which is our religious book sent by God to the Prophet Mohammed and the Sunnah-which is basically the reported teachings of the Prophet Mohammed which is based upon the Quraan and then you have highly educated scholars from times of old up till now who make general rulings about everyday life affairs based on the Quraan and the Sunnah. Anyway, I digress...if one looks there is nothing in the Quraan, Sunnah or then the scholarly rulings that says a Muslim can not provide medical care to the opposite gender.

What it does NOT allow...and this is key, is that modesty is utmost and that its ok to provide personal care to the opp. gender if its done with modest and for the right reasons and is medically necessary. What this means is...its perfectly OK for a Muslim to give someone of the opp. gender assistance with their bedbath, feed them, change them, etc because its *medically* necessary but it much be done with modesty...i.e. no giggling, no lollygagging, so goofeyness, no staring, etc etc. Its pretty simple and honestly NOT a big deal!

The other thing is once one works in the medical field long enough you get desensitized to the whole thing and they are just a body. I dont dwell on it and obv whatever I do is medically necessary.

Lastly...I dont think interpersonal touching is cool period...and thats just the female part of me talking...way too many issues with sexual harrassment can come up with co-workers get too feely..also its unprofessional.

lastly...id say, before jumping to conclusions its best to ask directly and then distinguish between whether its culture they are following or their religion.

I am a Muslim and I was sure to look up my job description therefore I knew what I was getting into and what would be expected of me in terms of care and outside of it.

I care for male patients, work the dining room (I'm not sure why she doesn't?) , etc BUT if I was personally a patient I wouldn't have a male doing personal care or anything where I would need to be exposed in a non-emergency situation.

I also don't touch, hug, etc males outside of care and outside of my family. Not anything against males just a personal preference.

But everyone has different levels of adherence to these things and especially when her personal CULTURE (not religion) plays into some of her views/restrictions as well.

Islam does in fact have gender mingling boundaries but you're caring for somebody in a healthcare setting not in a sexual or casual situation so in my opinion (and others as well) there is a large difference but as I said before some Muslims have different/stricter views & adherence to it so they don't work in healthcare! Simple as that!

My tip is ask her directly in a non-aggressive manner because us allnurses.com gals can give you all the answers in the world but none of us are her so we can only give you general advice, so start a conversation! She won't bite... and if she's rude about it then know that not all of us are and that it's a personality flaw, not a religious thing and just try to respect her boundaries and stay as cordial as possible.

I think if those rumors were true she would have been eliminated during the interview. There is no "sit down and drink sweet tea during your entire shift" in a CNA job description. Good grief how would she have passed clinicals?

I worked with an awesome Muslim nurse who wore the hijab. I actually performed post mortem care on a patient with her at least once. She also placed catheters and other things that required getting up close and personal with private parts. The only thing her religion effected was when we ordered out we made double sure her burger didn't come with bacon. I think those rumors you are hearing are just that.

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