Expired Epi-Pens?

[Supernrse01, BSN]

Morning all! I cleaned out the overstocked medication closet yesterday... they were meds in there from the previous nurse who hasn't worked within the District for 3 years. My question is, what do you do with the expired medications? Especially the Epi-pens? I bagged them all up for now, and locked them back in the closet.

[Supernrse01, BSN]

And that shoud say There were meds in there... not they :)

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

I have my own collection of expired epipens. Mostly I hold on to them so when I train staff and they want to try shooting a real one into an injector pad i can oblige (the trainer and the real epipens are really different experiences to shoot for someone who's never given a shot.). Granted, this is pretty rare and the number of expired epipens far exceeds my needs for so many epipens. For a short time we were able to send back to our distributor, but that's ended.

[Jolie, BSN]

At the time a pen expires, I contact parents (for a replacement) and to give them the option of picking up the old one.

If they don't get it within the specified time frame (usually a few days), it's mine.

Some allergists tell parents that they can use them for 6 months after expiration (at home.) Obviously in the school setting, meds must be in date, but what they do at home is their business.

I also keep some for demonstration, but the newly expired ones (less than 6 months out of date) are accepted by a local medical mission, so our school nurses drop them off there.

As for other expired meds, I give parents the same option of picking them up within a few days. Otherwise, I destroy them. If narcotics are involved, I insist that the parents pick them up and sign for them.

If you have a cabinet full of 2 or 3 year old drugs, I would account for the narcotics, have a second person witness and waste the lot.

No school has the space nor should they take on the liability of storing unused medications.

[Arnu]

We hold onto expired epi pens and expired glucagon for training purposes.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

When Haiti had their tragic earthquake i was able to send a generous quantity with a national guard medic who later came back and told me that they actually were used down there for people with allergies and now no epipen. I guess outdated is better than nothing.

[parkay]

I take all expired meds and left over meds down to our local pharmacy and they dispose of them for me:nurse:. But I like the Haiti idea, I'm sure there are organizations out there that would take expired meds and use them for those less fortanate .

[Supernrse01, BSN]

Thanks girls!! These are all great ideas :)