Where Do You Dispose of Narcotics?

[All4Seasons]

What is your hospital policy for this? Apparently,our pharmacy is drafting a new policy for disposal of narcotics. Pharmacy,because of potential access by drug seekers, does not want them to go into the sharps containers -which can be broken into. Many people squirt the injectables, and toss the tablets, down the sink drain. This,for certain, results in massive quantities of chemicals reaching the environment - in our case here,the ocean or groundwater eventually.I'm not sure if sewage treatment removes all or some of the narcotic. Anyway, I have a problem with that.

What I've done for a number of years is to squirt the injectables onto absorbent paper in the garbage...paper towel -while the empty syringe and glass vial go into the sharps container. That,however, does not solve the problem of what to do with narcotic tablets.

What does your hospital sanction as the acceptable disposal policy?

Thanks!!

[BroadwayRN, ASN, RN]

In the sharps box. Yes they can be broken into but that holds true for everything.

[Jolie, BSN]

The current method suggested for home disposal of medications is to mix with kitty litter or a similar substance and wrap the mixture in paper or a trash bag and place in the trash. That prevents the medications from being absorbed into the ground in the landfill.

It seems like hospitals could come up with some type of gel or kitty-litter-like substance that could bind tablets and liquids and make them unavailable for diversion.

[TangoLima]

Officially, we are supposed to return unused narcotic tabs to the pharmacy and they will dispose. This is a new policy, but most of us still dispose in the sharps containers. The sharps containers where we prepare meds are behind locked doors. I wouldn't dispose of them in the sharps containers in the patient rooms. But, if drug seekers are looking for meds, they will get them somehow. IMHO, if they want them bad enough that they would dig through a sharps container, then more power to them.

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

We have special color coded disposal containers that are kept behind locked doors in the med rooms. They look just like sharps containers, only they're different colors. Some drugs can be placed in the blue one, but certain ones have to go in the black one. These containers are incinerated. Narcs can be legally squirted down the sink, but some of us do have concerns about putting chemicals into the water system, and so will put them in the blue bin with other meds. Narcs with intact packaging are returned to pharmacy in a special little steel bin that would be impossible for a drug seeking person to get into short of using TNT.

[LTC Lady]

Where i work narcs are placed in the sharps container. Liquid is quirted in and tabs are "supposed to be" crushed then placed in. Not saying it is always done though.

[Vito Andolini]

How about squirt it against the wall, LOL. Sorry, couldn't help it.

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

The official policy at my hospital states narcs are to be flushed down the toliet. I have never known a nurse to do this. I normally empty my PCA's and syringes down the drain, and put pills in the sharps box (which is in the locked med room). We did have issues on my floor with pt's stealing narcs from the sharps box in their rooms, so I try to be careful about where I dispose of drugs.

[SaraO'Hara]

We have something that I affectionately call "The Black Lagoon" : a bottle filled with water, kept in the bottom drawer of the med cart. Any pills, injectables, old Fentanyl patches are to be dropped or squirted in. When the vileness has reached its peak, the DON disposes of the bottles. BTW, this covers non-narcs as well - like if I drop an Accupril on the floor.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Toilet for tablets, sink for liquids.

[jjensen]

I can see people licking the walls if we put them on the walls...lol