Choking Hazard

Published

Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

Today at Wrongway Regional Medical Center, Joint Commission Surveyors ruled that personal bottles of hand sanitizer are a choking hazard.

But worry not:

:attachment.php?attachmentid=27260&stc=1

No kidding.

Ever hear of such a thing?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

Okay- I gained a little more info:

These were not the actual surveyors from the Joint Commission but were "mock" surveyors from Joint Commission. One mock surveyor relayed to administration that the caps on the hand sanitizer bottle could fall off and any cap is, therefore, a choking hazard.

I am not making this up!

Is it me, or is it 5 'o clock in the morning and I've fallen into Bizarro World?

Edit: I failed to mention that an administrator went to each unit tonight, gathered up all the little bottles of hand sanitizer and passed out packages of Castile Soap Towelettes to the staff!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Please tell me you are making this up. Please.

So, patients can't have toiletries anymore because they might choke on the caps? No toothpaste, lotion, hand sanitizer, mouthwash, etc.? Or are patients deemed competent enough to handle such dangerous equipment?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Goodbye common sense- it was nice while it lasted.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Palliative, Onc, Med-Surg, Home Hospice.

Hey, why stop at hand sanitizer! Caps on syringes, caps on vials, caps for IV's. Man, hospitals are dangerous places, I tell you. Good thing you have management (and mock reviewers) to help you see the light. After all, we wouldn't want our patients to choke on a wayward cap. (Never mind that drinking the sanitizer is actually more likely)

My eye is twitching over the lunacy of this!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thanks to near-daily "desensitization therapy" this isn't too shocking. ;)

Davey, I invite you and your work friends to play a favorite game, "What Is This Really About?" Slide-splittingly hilarious fun, I tell you. Watch your opponents squirm as you collect clues that will reveal What This Is Really About.

Don't forget the bonus round: The ultimate winner comes up with the awesomest kool-aidy solution to the verbalized/fake problem!

Double bonus points if that solution solves the fake problem but not the newly-discovered real problem! Bwahahaha!

It's all in good fun. No, really.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Thanks to near-daily "desensitization therapy" this isn't too shocking. ;)

Davey, I invite you and your work friends to play a favorite game, "What Is This Really About?" Slide-splittingly hilarious fun, I tell you. Watch your opponents squirm as you collect clues that will reveal What This Is Really About.

Don't forget the bonus round: The ultimate winner comes up with the awesomest kool-aidy solution to the verbalized/fake problem!

Double bonus points if that solution solves the fake problem but not the newly-discovered real problem! Bwahahaha!

It's all in good fun. No, really.

I want to play!

Wrong way medical Center is afraid of the Illuminati, which Purell is clearly a subsidiary of. We all know the Illuminati worship demons, which possess otherwise alert and oriented patients to put the caps in their mouth and choke. pDI is a much safer company, and eliminate this risk by using soft, non recyclable material to cover their alcoholic wipes.

That or it's more cost effective with the new ones. I really think it's the first of my explanations though

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ED, psych.

Oh, for heavens sake ...

It's an epidemic!

I can see one of my jobs (psych per diem) doing this. They already took away the Purell hand stations by each room because (a.) a patient(s) might break it, taking the hard plastic pieces and (b.) the patient(s) might eat the sanitizer. So now we use these little guys in place to wash in/wash out.

But.

But.

Shampoo? Patients can't have them.

Conditioner? Same.

Soap? Only bar.

Why?

Caps are choking hazards.

FWIW, it's a Geri unit. No dementia. There WAS one incident of choking in the building from these dangerous, terrible caps ... on the children's unit.

Why do we get to keep our mini Purells? The higher ups haven't noticed that they also have caps? Not sure. I ain't saying a word.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Okay- I gained a little more info:

These were not the actual surveyors from the Joint Commission but were "mock" surveyors from Joint Commission. One mock surveyor relayed to administration that the caps on the hand sanitizer bottle could fall off and any cap is, therefore, a choking hazard.

I am not making this up!

Is it me, or is it 5 'o clock in the morning and I've fallen into Bizarro World?

Edit: I failed to mention that an administrator went to each unit tonight, gathered up all the little bottles of hand sanitizer and passed out packages of Castile Soap Towelettes to the staff!

Mock surveyors?

Sure, I would certainly mock those surveyors.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
Please tell me you are making this up. Please.

Alas, beekee, I wish I were.

So, patients can't have toiletries anymore because they might choke on the caps? No toothpaste, lotion, hand sanitizer, mouthwash, etc.? Or are patients deemed competent enough to handle such dangerous equipment?

I learned from other staff in shift report this past a.m. and then again before clocking in on this shift that patients may no longer have any if the items you mentioned. And, yes, it's because they might choke on the caps.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
Goodbye common sense- it was nice while it lasted.

I told my wife Belinda who works at Anomaly Memorial Hospital on a medical floor about this, and she believes that someone somewhere choked on a cap and now Joint Commission is all cap-choking conscious.

"Yeah", I replied, "Maybe a patient choked on a cap on some Peds unit in a 3rd world country!"

I don't know... About 15 years ago, when I worked days, a Joint Commission surveyor stood inside the two door locked adult psych unit looking at the exit sign. He said something along the lines of, "I don't think that exit sign is accurate, since one will have to go through another door in order to truly be out of the unit".

Yeah! Something should have been done about that!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

About two years ago, the geriatric psych unit underwent some renovations. During this time, patients were still housed on the unit, despite obvious safety hazards. I brought the safety hazards to administration's attention. When nothing was done, with administration's knowledge, I informed outside entities, including Joint Commission. Again, nothing was done.

I have lost faith in surveying and bulldog agencies.

Here are some cartoons I made during this time, and each one is based on real circumstances.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]27264[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]27265[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]27266[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]27267[/ATTACH]

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment