Hello and thank you for taking the time to listen. I'm a nurse and we have a nurse that is a JW. Is it probhibited for a JW nurse not to hang blood on a patient? I do not know a lot about the JW religion and have tried to look this up but can not find any info on this. Thank you for your help. I do know that with our JW patients we respect there choice and religion for not getting blood. Just need help alot of us our confussed.
Need help understanding
by just a guest 9 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Brummie
Howdy, go here http://ajwrb.org/ and you will get a comprehensive insight into JWs and blood.
I believe the JW nurse is allowed to hang blood if her conscience will allow it...but it seldom does.
Nice to meet you.
Brummie
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northern girl
Hello Guest : You can get answers at www.watchtower.org/
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Joyzabel
Welcome just a guest,
I am a RN, went to school while I was a JW. Worked as an RN as a JW. One hospital I worked at the house supervisor was a JW.
Now about this blood thing. It is up to the conscience of that jw nurse if she wants to hang blood. The WTBT will not tell her one way or another. They cannot tell her how to do her job.
I know of several JW nurses that reasoned with themselves that it wasn't their order to give blood, so they didn't want to interferre with the doctors orders. thus respecting other people's right to choose medical treatment, like they want to be treated. But I also know that if they could get a fellow worker to hang the blood for the, they would.
I hope this answers your question and you get more replies.
j2bf
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jgnat
I searched the watchtower site, but there are no specific instructions there to Jehovah's Witness nurses on what they are permitted to do or not to do. This is the closest article I could find.
http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/1993/11/22/article_01.htm
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just a guest
Thank you for your post. Some nurses are having a problem with this. When you have 7 pt and then you have someone who wants you to hang blood. The one thing this one nurse doesn't do is stay with the pt during the 30 min while the blood is trans. Some other the other nurses have notice that they have to always due IV or give shots for her. She is also studying everytime I see her at work. Thanks again.
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Joyzabel
Hey Just a guest,
I thought of some more things that might help you with this working situation.
AlanF posted a thread about what the HLC has at their disposal. (Hospital Liason Committee- a committee of elders who are suppose to help when a JW is in the hospital to explain to the doctors what the JW beliefs are and what the latest technology is from around the world that JWs can use.) The document that is posted on that thread (http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/16/54423/1.ashx), which most (99%) of the JWs never get to see, which shows what the Watchtower "allows" as blood products that can be used by JWs. It really confuses JWs minds that their "administrators", i.e. Faithful and Discreet Slave has allowed with regards to blood products and the average JW doesn't know it.
In the meantime, I'm sorry to say, but not too surprised that the JW nurse that you are working with sounds like he/she is NOT carrying his/her weight as regards his/her job duties. Don't let him/her plead that "its against my conscience" to get out of work. JWs are brain washed into thinking they are very special people (God's ONLY people) and thus they put what the Watchtower instructs them to do ahead of EVERYTHING else in their lives.
Have fun with the information provided. Most JWs don't know that they are allowed Cow's Blood (Hemopure) but still has to refuse human blood. Another good site that someone posted on this thread is the AJWRB.org. That web page will keep you up to date on the blood issues with JWs.
j2bf
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Scully
Hi justaguest
I am a nurse too. When I was little there was a JW lady who was quite well respected and had a fairly positive influence on me. She was a nurse as well. This was back in the early to mid-70s. My parents were just going through the studying part of becoming JWs at the time. This JW nurse would hang blood, and follow the procedures that were in place at the time for administering the blood transfusion(s).
There is really no good reason why a JW nurse could refuse to hang blood. The decision to administer blood is not her decision. It is the doctor's decision to order the blood. It is the patient's decision to accept that treatment. If hanging blood and following the hospital's protocols for administering the transfusion are so objectionable to her, perhaps she ought to consider working in a different setting, like a doctor's office or a clinic, or doing homecare, or psych.
If she is sloughing off her work on other nurses, she's not really doing her job. Studying her Bible and literature when she is supposed to be working reflects poorly on her belief system. What she does when she's on her break is one thing. What she does when she is supposed to be delivering patient care is quite another. You can stop "helping" her and make her accountable for her own work. You've already got a full assignment, and you shouldn't have to be picking up after her. Speak to your nurse manager or clinical educator if her work habits (or lack thereof) are interfering with your ability to do your work and give your patients the care to which they are entitled.
At the very least, if another RN on the unit is "doing her a favor" by hanging a blood transfusion for her patient and staying with that patient for the initial 30 minutes of the transfusion, she should be MORE than willing to do a fair trade off of work for that nurse who is helping her. It doesn't seem like she is, though.
Quite frankly, if she has been a JW for any length of time prior to becoming a nurse, she would have KNOWN about this issue before applying to nursing school. It doesn't make sense to me why a person who has such strong objections to that part of the medical profession would embark on a nursing career in a specialty that required her to administer blood transfusions, particularly when there are other medical specialties where the administration of transfusions would be extremely rare.
Love, Scully
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just a guest
Thank you, that is just what I needed to hear. I have nothing against anyone religion at all and neither does any other nurse on our floor. We all work hard but its really hard when you see someone not pulling there weight. I believe anyone has a choice as a pt to choice what they want and the meds they want, but as a nurse I must follow what they want no matter what color, sex, or religion my pts are.
Our other thoughts are maybe she is just afaird of BLOOD?????? Could be, alot of us have to restart IV's, and give shots for her. Who knows. I work on the ortho/neuro floor and we hang blood alot and give shots alot. Now does she pull her weight NO she does not. That is not just coming from me that is coming from the rest of the night crew. This is something we are bring up to our boss.
Thanks again for the wonderful input.
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Scully
just a guest writes:
Our other thoughts are maybe she is just afaird of BLOOD?????? Could be, alot of us have to restart IV's, and give shots for her. Who knows. I work on the ortho/neuro floor and we hang blood alot and give shots alot.
That may very well be the case. Many JWs have an irrational fear of blood that borders on paranoia. But again, when a person has that kind of fear, it really makes no sense to go into a career that DEMANDS that you be around blood - not just transfusions, but changing dressings, doing wound care, starting IVs, giving injections and so on. Besides, when a nurse or doctor is providing that kind of care, they would use proper Universal Precautions (gloves, gown, mask, eye-shields, etc.) that were appropriate to the situation. Of all people, this JW nurse could probably exercise due diligence and use Universal Precautions in order to keep herself from having contact with blood.
The more I think about this situation, the more I am convinced she has no case for refusing to perform these nursing duties.
Before you complain to your boss, though, it might be a good idea for you and a few other colleagues document the instances where you are doing her work for her for a few weeks. It will lend weight to your case and it won't seem like a petty personality conflict. Try very hard to avoid turning this into an issue about her religious beliefs. If she plays the "freedom of religion" card, you are all pretty much up $h!t'$ creek without a paddle.
Love, Scully