Bare Below the Elbow

[pharmuser1]

Can anyone help?

Does anyone know of any muslim colleagues who work in clinical areas in hospital and wear disposable sleeves?

I am a hospital pharmacist, and have been so for a number of years. With the introduction of 'Bare Below the Elbows' policy in 2009, the clinical aspect of hospital pharmacy role changed in that I could no longer work on hospital wards whilst wearing full length sleeves. As a muslim, this significantly affected my core beliefs, and recognising that there was no evidence base for this argument, the DoH issued further guidance which specified 'disposable sleeves' were an acceptable alternative for healthcare professionals who could not work 'Bare Below the Elbows'.

The problem I have is that, bearing in mind I don't ever touch patients or their belongings, the infection control team in my trust has recently reveiwed their policy and insist on me changing the sleeves at every bedside (as oppose to the previously agreement which was changing the sleeves for every ward, every day) which is impractical, as well as the usual had hygiene procedures which I of course comply with. I have done extensive literature searches and included supporting documentation from the DoH, WHO etc, but the team are not interested in evidence base practice!

Would appreciate any helpful comments!

[Erystiva]

That does seem quite excessive and I don't see the point. I assume you clean your hands between bed visits like all staff, do other members of staff also wash their arms?!? As far as I am aware our pharmacy staff wash their hands with soap and alcohol gels but that doesn't extend to their arms so I see no benefit in you replacing the sleeves for each bed visit. If anything the sleeves would appear more hygenic as they are clean on when entering a ward and disposed of after each ward visit. Soon we will be deep cleaning porter bags and paper charts (until our electronic system goes completely live)!!!

[pharmuser1]

Yes, I actually wash/alcohol gel past my wrists (as that was yet another request from infection control) but it seems nothing is good enough for them! Pharmacy, nursing and medical staff on ward also agree that they don't wash their arms, only hands..

[johnep]

I wonder how much the NHS spends on these replaceable sleeves?
johnep

[pharmuser1]

its not actually a lot as i was using them previously, but would be significantly more with the new policy!

[sparkybw]

You seem very keen to observe your religious beliefs without questioning the evidence base for them, so why not apply the same standards to the requirements of your Trust? They are bending over backwards to allow you to break the 'bare below the elbow' rules why can you not be equally flexible? If you have to change at every bedside then that is because of your own choice to be an exception to the rules to which everyone else has to abide.

[johnep]

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
johnep

[shan]

You seem very keen to observe your religious beliefs without questioning the evidence base for them, so why not apply the same standards to the requirements of your Trust? They are bending over backwards to allow you to break the 'bare below the elbow' rules why can you not be equally flexible? If you have to change at every bedside then that is because of your own choice to be an exception to the rules to which everyone else has to abide.

Totally agree.

As long as the rule is for every staff, I don't see any problem why it should not be followed. Don't waste time on doing research and stuff like that. No one is going to buy your evidence, they will be first in line of fire when infections like MRSA or C. Def start suddenly make headlines in daily papers and not you or the religious beliefes. So either you follow the rules or just stay away from the ward rounds or better come in to community pharmacy, no rules here and better you can make your own rules

Shan

[pharmuser1]

I have indeed questioned my own beliefs and its evidence base in much detail, and without going into the ins and outs of, my beliefs are very flexible when there is a genuine reason for a particular action, however in this case there isnt..it was just a public relations policy put in place to avoid the real reasons why hospital infections are on the rise ie over use of antibiotics, not enough isolated rooms on wards and inadequate uptake of hand hygeine!
I fail to understand why educated professionals are prepared to accept any policy which is uneccesary, and just adds to the already existing bureaucracy.