Emptying linen and garbage bags. ..part of a Nurses jobs description?

Nurses General Nursing

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So I think most nurses do help cleaning staff by emptying linen and garbage bags if they are full. Especially on the night shift where there is less cleaning staff. Some even dispose of them down a chute. But what if you injure yourself while lifting these?...are you covered? Are you concerned about your own safety and refuse to do it?

injure yourself? really? maybe it's just me, but i have bigger things to worry about than getting hurt dumping a linen bag.

Specializes in Family Practice, Mental Health.
injure yourself? really? maybe it's just me, but i have bigger things to worry about than getting hurt dumping a linen bag.

Uhmmmmm.....wait until you get hurt and have to fill out the incident report.

Question;"What were you doing at time of injury?"

Answer to question: "Emptying linen bag"

Question: "What could you have done in the future to prevent this injury?"

Answer to question: "Not emptying the linen bag".

if being injured by emptying a linen bag is a major concern, i think it would be good to consider a less physically demanding job. if you can't lift a linen bag safely how can you lift patients? scary.

Most of the places I have worked required nurses to empty linen and garbage bags. But wait there's more. It was also a policy that it was the nurses job to clean up vomit and stool when it was on the floor. The housekeepers would refuse to clean up vomit and stool. They said it was the "nurse's job." I thought they were mistaken but no they were not. It was in fact the "nurse's job".:mad:

In the hospital where I've worked before, they usually have utility staff incharge for those garbages and all. So I think it's not the nurse's responsibility anymore.

Specializes in Burn, CCU, CTICU, Trauma, SICU, MICU.

goodness no!! I am not a housekeeper!

Specializes in LTC, Med-Surg, IMCU/Tele, HH/CM.

Nurses empty linen and garbage because there could be bodily fluids on them. The cleaning staff at our facility has a contract that states "no contact with bodily fluids". If they provided cleaning staff with a class on PPEs this would not be an issue, but their union might be against it.

Our linen bags have writing on it . . ."do not fill past 50% full". I'm guessing this is to limit weight so that chances of hurting yourself are less frequent.

Edit: my complaint is when the cleaning staff prepares a room, and I think it's fully clean. Then when my admission comes, there is a commode with urine in it that is my responsibility to empty. I'm fine with emptying it, but please tell me BEFORE you are done cleaning the room!

i have to say our cleaning staff is awesome. actually, the only rooms that have large trash bags and/or linen bags IN the room are our isolation rooms. otherwise, when a bed needs to be changed or there are towels used for a clean-up, we grab a bag out of the alcove and put it in there.

technically, we can call housekeeping to come and clean up if someone vomits or something like that, but obviously if someone vomits i'm going to throw towels over it so i think it's a waste of time and imagine it would be very annoying to a houskeeper for me to call them when i could just pick up the towels and throw them in a bag myself. it's not that hard.

Specializes in Gerontology.

But what if you injure yourself while lifting these?...are you covered? Are you concerned about your own safety and refuse to do it?

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What would happen if one of the cleaning staff injured themselves lifting the bag? Maybe they should be concerned about their safety and refuse to do it too.

Emptying garbage bags, linen bags is part of my job. We change them at 1/2 full and follow safe lifting techniques. As someone else said, if you can't safely manage a linen bag how are you going to manage a large pt?

if being injured by emptying a linen bag is a major concern, i think it would be good to consider a less physically demanding job. if you can't lift a linen bag safely how can you lift patients? scary.

Most facilities I know have a "no lifting policy".

Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
But what if you injure yourself while lifting these?...are you covered? Are you concerned about your own safety and refuse to do it?

What would happen if one of the cleaning staff injured themselves lifting the bag? Maybe they should be concerned about their safety and refuse to do it too. Emptying garbage bags, linen bags is part of my job. We change them at 1/2 full and follow safe lifting techniques. As someone else said, if you can't safely manage a linen bag how are you going to manage a large pt?

I was wondering about that, too. For patients not on isolation it appears that the common factor would be gloves, so how is it a safety risk for one person and not for the other?

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