Clearing bathroom odors

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Hi all!

I have a student with spina bifida that uses my clinic bathroom to clean up/change at least twice throughout the day. His BM's are particularly malodorous. I'm told the previous nurse before me used to have to burn matches/candles to clear the odor, but obviously that isn't safe in the school lol.

What tips and tricks do you have to help clear bad odors? We've tried scented sprays, opening our main door to vent, turning the fan on, etc., and it does help but usually takes 15-20 minutes for the odor to clear.

Many thanks!

Specializes in School Nurse.

Ozium spray and gel containers

Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.

Neutral Febreze until I realized the aerosolized product was exacerbating my asthma. Also bagging the Depends in a double bag and moving it out of my clinic helped.

Good luck!

Specializes in school/military/OR/home health.

That orange spray we used to use in the hospital...think it's called Citrus II

Specializes in School Nursing.

I like Clorox Odor Defense. Neutralizes the smell quickly. It is an aerosol so you can't use it with students in the room though.

Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

citrus II helps. I have an air freshener device in my bathroom that I bought with my staples order that takes scented pucks. I think Brighton makes it. Not too expensive, but the scent is better when the pucks are newer. I also find that bagging the soiled depends helps and having a lidded refuse contained in there is key.

Specializes in School Nursing, Pediatrics.

I keep my bathroom window open a bit all year long (even though is it zero outside!) (if you even have window, I'm in an old building so I'm lucky to have one).

Also, I have lysol spray that I use.

Also, when I had a pre-school at my school I had a Diaper Genie, that worked great for soiled diapers! (better than the trash!).

Specializes in Community and Public Health, Addictions Nursing.

I know the commercial looks gimmicky, but Poo-pourri really works great! You just spray it in the toilet before going, flush as usual, and no smell except whatever scent you have purchased will remain in your bathroom! I realize that this method involves scents and that some prefer to avoid that. In that case, double bagging anything soiled and diaper genie cans are great.

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