Scrubbing and Hijab

[OphthoBean]

I am wondering if there are any issues with Muslim females in the surgical subspecialties regarding modesty. Once one is gowned up, there is little exposure of the body, but while at the scrub sink the arms and neck area are exposed. For women surgeons/residents/med students who normally wear the head scarf and long sleeves, has it been a problem to wear the short sleeved scrubs and scrub next to male attendings/colleagues or can other accomodations be made? Does one wear the scarf into the OR or is the bouffant cap considered acceptable?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Caesars0331]

Does one wear the scarf into the OR or is the bouffant cap considered acceptable?

I would hope that a scarf is not acceptable...Otherwise, I might as well just wear my baseball cap when I enter the OR.

 

[neutropeniaboy]

I would hope that a scarf is not acceptable...Otherwise, I might as well just wear my baseball cap when I enter the OR.

...or your custom-made scrub cap from Green Scrubs or the one made by Susie Q, RN...?

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,

The scarf is not acceptable but most of the female medical students have worn the hoods that men with beards wear. They cover almost everything and a bouffant shower cap can be worn overtop of these for more modestly. Many of the places I have rotated thorough as a medical student, do not allow personal scrub caps of any kind. They tend to get pretty filthy fast.

The arms have to be scrubbed. There is no getting around this point. Don't see too many Muslim females as surgical residents.

njbmd

 

[Slave#8801011]

What do they do here? http://www.kkesh.med.sa/
It's a website, one of several, of hospitals in the Kingdom.
Could they possibly scrub at the next OR sink away from the men? The Muslim women I have seen did scrub like everyone else, but that was in the US, not the Kingdom.

 

[tussy]

We have one female muslim surgery resident. She wears a turtleneck sweater with a bouffant hat over her scarf. She pushes up her sleeves about the elbow to scrub. It hasn't been a major problem for her.

 

[Vincristine]

In the 4 hospitals I've been in 2 different states (IL and MA), none of them allowed clothing to stick out under a scrub top -- i.e. tanktops were okay but undershirts are not. I am quite surprized to hear that turtleneck sweaters are allowed.

 

[Seaglass]

Even if the scrub top is tucked in? I've never heard of such a restriction in the 4 hospitals I have been to the OR in (in PA and here in NC).

 

[Blade28]

I've also done surgery rotations in two states (HI, CA): at both places, you weren't allowed to wear a t-shirt under your scrub top.

 

[Retinamark]

I've also done surgery rotations in two states (HI, CA): at both places, you weren't allowed to wear a t-shirt under your scrub top.

That's pretty strict. Who stops you, ?the nurses or the attendings

 

[Blade28]

Residents, fellows and occasionally the attending.

 

[Pilot Doc]

Residents, fellows and occasionally the attending.

So how many times did you try to wear a t-shirt?

Seriously, though, why do they care what you wear under the scrubs - do they think a t-shirt is worse than your skin?

 

[Blade28]

I guess so. It's like how, technically, you're supposed to wear a new pair of scrubs before each case...but who does that?

 

[ortho2003]

the issue is having wearing clothes laundered outside the hospital. You are not supposed to have any clothing exposed that was worn outside the hospital. That is why tank tops are okay, but t-shirts are not. That goes for shoes too, any shoes that you wear should eb dedicated hospital shoes, but I find this rarely enforced. If you are wearing clothes laundered outside, you can be exposing the hospital (the or specifically) to new flora.