Muslim Nurses Administering Haram Medications

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may the peace, mercy, and blessings of god be upon all the muslims. blessed ramadan!

an issue that is tugging away at my conscious is: medication ingredients

all praise due to god, i recently accepted a position and will be working in a few days, god willing. in seeking the reward in the hereafter, i don't want to trade one good deed (working as a nurse) and use it to (even unintentionally) commit an evil deed (giving medications with forbidden substances, regardless of the patient's religion).

how do you other muslim nurses out there deal with this? haraam is haraam is haraam! is there such a thing as refusing to administer medication? is there a way to obtain the ingredients in all medications? when in doubt, should i just make du'aa'?

re: administering meds, what is standard practice in muslim countries?

I just saw this thread and have not read the article mentioned in post 34. I'll take a look at it.

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Specializes in CVICU.
I'm vegetarian. I don't kill animals for myself. But I'll administer heparin, I'll carry a tray with meatloaf into the room. You can't expect your patients to suffer or your coworkers to do more work to accomodate your beliefs. Don't know what the answer is for you, but you need to work it out without expecting the burden to fall on others.

I'm with you on this. Also a vegetarian. I probably wouldn't personally accept something like a porcine valve, but I take care of patients with them all the time.

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

I work with a Muslim nurse and she has no problem administering haram medications. We both work in ICU. It's not about us, it's about the patient. She does what she has to do in order for the patient to heal.

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Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.

this is of no offense to anyone, but that is why i asked this question to be answered by muslim nurses, because we are taught to never put our beliefs aside for anything. for you, it may be okay to put whatever you hold fast to aside while you are the nurse, but in islam--that doesn't make sense and is not acceptable.

i understand this is a public board, so thanks to all of you who are trying to contribute; nevertheless, a lot of you are just using this to throw aroujnd your opinions about my practices. that wasn't the question asked...i said i won't put aside my beliefs, whether i am the nurse or the patient. but, thank you anyway for sharing your opinon on the matter

for you, as a patient, i would do my best to respect those beliefs. just as i would expect my nurse to respect my beliefs and give me the care that corresponds to my beliefs and not theirs. giving the medications isn't about your beliefs, it's about the patient's beliefs. if you as a patient expect your beliefs to be respected, you have to make sure to do the same for your patient's beliefs.

i don't know how you'll get around to doing something you can live with. a lot of people have to avoid certain lines of work because of their beliefs.

i'm all for teamwork and helping each other out. but there comes a point where things start getting ridiculous. this nurse can't take this patient because she's pregnant. that one can't hang blood. that one can't take him because he's too heavy and she's got a bad back. all the while i'm dealing with my bad back lifting patients, hanging blood, gowning up for the anti-pregnant room, and all the while pouring fish guts down g-tubes and cutting up salisbury steak even though i don't believe in killing animals for food. it's not about me. it's about the patient. if their beliefs allow salisbury steak or a leg of lamb or a big ole ham, then that's between them and their god. do i get grossed out by the meat products, sometimes. does seeing pork skin on burn patients really freak me out, yes. and i've made clear when i'm a patient what i'll allow and won't allow.

abortion, pork, animal testing, blood, dnr, they all bring up ethical questions for a lot of people. to me though, it's not about my beliefs when i'm working, it's about the patient's beliefs. i've done cpr when it was futile and my beliefs said it was time to stop, but the patient (or family) wanted everything done. i've given tube feeds that prolonged quantity but not quality of life. i've done plenty that no nurse ever should do to me, whatever they may believe. my beliefs come into play when i'm the patient.

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Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.

in fact, i believe this is a def. possibility for me. my job description (for now) may actually entail me managing the patient's medication, but not actually administering them. thank you

at one ltc facility i've been in, the lpn gives meds and the rns don't. that might be a possibility in your area.
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Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.

thank you so much for your help on the matter. i was planning on asking a well trusted sheikh, but as this is the final then nights of ramadan, many muslims are secluded to their mosques and homes involving themselves in extra prayers and lectures, so i may have to wait until the end of next week before i can ask him. until then, i will probably most likely do what your hijabi friend did, which was to look for alternatives.

nb: i stated in a reply that my actual job at the moment may not be to actually administer the medications, but to manage medications. in the event that i will have to, i'd rather be on the safe side.

again, thank you for being non-judgemental in answering the question i actually asked.

i spoke with a hijabi friend of mine who is also an rn but does not frequent this site.

she said that she would, for herself, look for an alternative and, were none available, consult her spiritual leader. she will administer medications to patients as ordered.

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Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.

thank you. i get exactly what you are saying. i think there is better use of a nurse than to just pass meds, and we should be more aware of the medications we are passing anyway. but i digress, it may appear to be a difficult situation, but i believe its doable. my boss is wonderful and very respectful of my beliefs thank god and i am sure that in non-life threatening situations alternatives are available.

i cannot and will not participate in the abortive process.

i have been a nurse for 17 years and will not do that. i have changed assignments, and there is a policy that supports my creed.

as for what the patient needs, that is the reason why i do not participate--because she/he/they would need someone who won't be offended by that and they need a caregiver who won't impose his/her beliefs.

the difference in my situation is that this has only happened to be twice in my whole career--and i knew ahead of time so that the potential for it occurring was minimized.

as for giving meds, that's what we do. as i've said before, this is a difficult situation, but doable in the right nursing department/path.

the onus is on the op.

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Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.

"muslim country" is something that's used a lot by muslim and non-muslim alike. i don't know of any true islamic society to exist...but i assume you are talking about countries in which there are mainly muslims and perhaps even shari'ah law as the law of the land. i don't know what happens there because i don't live there and have yet to be able to visit one (for instance, saudi arabia). i can only guess at what would be the practices, and they probably vary from country to country, or even city to city.

re: administering meds, what is standard practice in muslim countries?

i just saw this thread and have not read the article mentioned in post 34. i'll take a look at it.

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Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.

what one muslimah does is not the end-all say-all for all muslims. i wasn't asking anyone whether administering haram medications is okay. i know the answer to that. i was asking what other muslims do. from your post, i suppose many adminster them without hesitation.

that isn't me. some things are about us, but this is where you and i differ and i am very fine with that. like i stated before, i believe that a true cure contains no haraam. so in essence, i'm looking out for the patient as well.

i work with a muslim nurse and she has no problem administering haram medications. we both work in icu. it's not about us, it's about the patient. she does what she has to do in order for the patient to heal.
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like i stated before, i believe that a true cure contains no haraam. so in essence, i'm looking out for the patient as well.

so if i believe that the true cure contains haraam, then i can give you heparin or pork insulin because i'm looking out for the patient? i'm sure you'd throw an absolute fit if i forced my beliefs on you, why should you get to force your beliefs on me if i'm your patient?

just because i'm not muslim doesn't mean i don't face situations where i have to put my beliefs aside for the patient. there's a lot of days at work where i'm doing things that i'd come back and haunt my family if they allowed done to me. would you want a christian scientist as your nurse, refusing to give you any medical care because that's their belief? i'm ok with blood transfusions, should jw's be forced to undergo them because i think it's ok and i'm their nurse that day? perhaps if you aren't able to put your beliefs aside for the good of the patient, then nursing is not for you. because it is not about you or your beliefs, it's about the patient's beliefs.

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Well, there is no way of looking up all the ingredients in all the meds you give every shift for every patient. So, you probably need to choose somewhere to work where patients take their own meds, or you don't dispense meds. That's if you decide it is immoral for you to do so. You need to talk to you clergy about it for guidance. They can probably help you more than this board regarding what is right or wrong for you to do...Whatever you decide you can't compromise patient care or disregard a doctor's order regardless of your religious beliefs. (!!!) For example, I don't believe in abortion. So I didn't apply at Planned Parenthood. I am a strict vegan, so I wouldn't work as an employee health nurse at a slaughterhouse. But I administer drugs that have animal products--it's unavoidable, unfortunately. I figure I do the best I can myself with being a strict (ethical) vegetarian. But I can't "not give heparin" or whatever, because it has animal products in it. Well, I could decide that, but then I would have to not work in a hospital setting. And, if that's what I determined, then that's what I would do: not work there. You can't have everything....and patient care and everyone around you can't suffer (administering all your meds) because of your religious beliefs. Don't mean to sound course, just my take on things. Good Luck with whatever you decide!

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Specializes in CVICU.
Perhaps if you aren't able to put your beliefs aside for the good of the patient, then nursing is not for you. Because it is NOT about you or your beliefs, it's about the patient's beliefs.

For the most part, I agree with this statement. I will, however, disagree with your contention that nursing may "not be for you." I don't see where the OP is trying to convert the masses to Islam, I simply see that she is trying to ensure a safe place to practice with regards to her beliefs.

Clearly the OP has shown that they are interested in being a nurse and has gone to school to be a nurse. This person will need to go into an area where their beliefs don't conflict with patient care (or at least if they do conflict, to a very minimal extent). I am not very familiar with Haram, but I would imagine that somewhere out there someone/something has a guide for medical personnel.

That being said, I wonder if the OP has looked into something like being a parish nurse? Many larger churches hire nurses to assist their parishioners. I am not sure if mosques do the same or not, but it would be worth looking into in my opinion.

It is really no different than being a strict Jehovah's witnesses, Christian, Jew, etc, one just needs to find a job that "jives" with their beliefs. I'm a strict vegetarian, but I don't forbid my patients from eating meat or giving them heparin or IVIG. I probably wouldn't accept certain meds/treatments for myself, but I don't let my beliefs affect patient care. The OP is obviously different from me in that aspect, but that doesn't mean that she wouldn't make a good nurse.

There are a lot of Jehovah's witnesses at my hospital, but most of them do not work in areas where blood is frequently administered. ICU, ER, OR, transplant floors, etc, would not be a good match for them, and they don't tend to flock to these areas. If one is a strict Muslim, I would suggest staying away from areas where lots of grafts are used such as burn units and ORs. I think there's a niche for nearly every nurse out there. Sometimes it just takes longer to find it.

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