More Muslim Women Medics in U.K. Refusing to Follow Hygiene

[Scaramedic]

More Muslim Women Medics in U.K. Refusing to Follow Hygiene Rules

Muslim women working at U.K. medical facilities are increasingly refusing to comply with the basic hygiene standard of rolling up their sleeves when their washing hands, it was reported.

According to the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph, female workers are ignoring Britain's Department of Health rules requiring medics to be "bare below the elbow" because they consider showing any skin — outside the hands and face — immodest.

The guidelines were put into place to stave off the spread of infectious killer bugs like MRSA and Clostridium difficile, which have been implicated in the deaths of hundreds of hospital patients, according to the paper.

Hygiene experts said the standard should hold for all workers— even if it goes against their religion.

"I don't think it would be right to make an exemption for people on any grounds. The policy of bare below the elbows has to be applied universally," Dr. Mark Enright, professor of microbiology at Imperial College London told the Telegraph.

Some fear the enforcing the rules will open the door to lawsuits charging discrimination against female Muslims working within the medical professions.

The Islamic Medical Association, for one, has issued a statement that "no practicing Muslim woman — doctor, medical student, nurse or patient — should be forced to bare her arms below the elbow," according to paper.

Where does the line between religious freedom and patient safety intersect?

I think it is a bullshit argument on the part of the Muslim women (Medics). It is immodest to publicly bare their arms, but they could always go into a bathroom for privacy.

Discuss.

[zippyRN]

like many things where religion is cited as a reason it has more to do with the mis application reglious standards and jurisprudence

'bare below the elbow is exactly that - all all tiem when ininvolved with patient contact UK health care staff are now supposed to not have any clothing below the elbow unless

a. 'Scrubbed ' and gowned as for surgical procedures

b. in the field where thre are other overriding h+S concerns ( e.g. during extremel cold weather or extrication)

[SC MedicMike]

If they truly intend to maintain that, because of their religious beliefs, they must endanger others, they should not be accommodated and should find another line of work.

[JPINFV]

Yea, I'm sorry here, but patient protection comes before any "rights" you have to free practice of your faith. If you don't want to bare your arms, then go work in psych or podiatry.

[firedoc5]

I agree, they could go to a restroom for privacy. After that they could glove up, even possibly glove up to the elbow. Wonder if they could glove up to the elbow, would that be considered "covered up" if they pushed their sleeves up?

If they were still in their home country or any other muslim country, they wouldn't be working as Medics in the first place. They should be thankful for having the opportunity to work. Guess they need to lighten up.IMHO

[JPINFV]

I guess another "option" would be to develop some sort of disposable gown top that they could wear on calls. This would be disposable and replaced after every call and should satisfy both the need for protection for the patient and modesty. The provider should cover the costs of this though.

[Dustdevil]

If they were still in their home country or any other muslim country, they wouldn't be working as Medics in the first place. They should be thankful for having the opportunity to work.

Ah, but the UK is a Muslim country, and that is the problem.

But yeah, the very fact that they have left the Muslim world to immigrate to the West is evidence enough that they are not truly devout to the faith they claim. Consequently, they lose all rights to the special privileges of that faith until such time they scoot their smelly arses back home, where society will have no problem with them locking themselves inside their homes, covered from head to toe, all day long, sparing them the humiliation of public exposure.

[firedoc5]

Ah, but the UK is a Muslim country, and that is the problem.

Hmm, never thought of it quite like that. I stand corrected. :-k

[akflightmedic]

Ah, but the UK is a Muslim country, and that is the problem.

But yeah, the very fact that they have left the Muslim world to immigrate to the West is evidence enough that they are not truly devout to the faith they claim. Consequently, they lose all rights to the special privileges of that faith until such time they scoot their smelly arses back home, where society will have no problem with them locking themselves inside their homes, covered from head to toe, all day long, sparing them the humiliation of public exposure.

As with all religions, there are so many different levels of belief within the same religion.

To say and assume they all are covered head to toe smacks of ignorance.

Turkey, Bosnia, Macedonia, Albania, numerous African countries...all loaded with Muslims who do not take that hardline attitude. I work with all of these groups everyday and quite honestly for a few months, never even knew they were Muslim.

Remember the Balkan war, we fought for these Muslims so they would not be persecuted.

As far as saying in their own country they would not even be medics....WRONG, guess again. Here in Afghanistan we have female medics that are Muslim as they are the only ones to tend to the women that do not come out from under the veil.

Also, I believe I posted an article on here about the first graduating class of medics from Dubai that came to America to learn how to be medics so they could take it back to their country.

So, aside from the ignorant comments I made reference to, yes I agree that they should have to wash the same as everyone else and roll their sleeves in order to do so.

Otherwise find a job that does not compromise my health standards for your beliefs.

[spenac]

This should be no problem. They could use a long glove that covers past the elbow. Kind of like we use to check if a cow is pregnant. These often can go over shirt sleeve. This would keep sleeves from contacting patients and would actually be cleaner than a persons arm even after washing. In fact how many people properly scrub between each patient anyway? Actually might not be a bad idea to require such a glove for all healthcare providers in order to help stop spread of disease.