Disposal of Morphine IV Bags

[ncupp10]

Looking for some feedback on proper disposal of IV bags (specifically morphine).

I understand that the patient information must be removed from the bags, but I am trying to learn if the process for disposal is fairly standard across hospitals/states and who the governing body is.

i.e. are the bags drained then thrown away? or are they placed into disposal bins and collected later?

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

I drain them.

[ncupp10]

Do you drain them down the sink?

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Just curious: are you curious about morphine specifically, or opioids in general? Does your question also pertain to, say, bags of Fentanyl and/or Dilaudid?

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Refer to your employer's policy & procedure. This is a very hot topic & many organizations are changing their practices to stay on top of things.

[Nienna Celebrindal]

We have special bins for wasting medications. It looks basically like a sharps container and they are next to every sharps containers and there are large ones in the nurses station for bigger items. They are drained into the bin and we have stickers to hide patient's information, and then the container is also placed in the bin. We do this for every medication.

[~PedsRN~, BSN, RN]

For a bag, we would drain the bag (but measure the waste), cosign the waste with a fellow nurse, then waste in the trash, dump the bag (after removing patient identifiers to the shred bin)

[ncupp10]

Do you place the waste in a regular trash bin or into a special waste bin for medications?

Do you know who the company is that collects the waste?

[ncupp10]

Curious about any/all disposal of liquid medications, but specifically IV bags that still contain fluid

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

Do you drain them down the sink?

I drain them into a waste bin specifically for medication and throw the empty bag in there, too. It's the size of a small trash can, stored in the medication room, and easily accessed (which is why I drain the bag if it's morphine). If I'm throwing out Ancef, I just throw the full bag in. I'm not sure what company deals with the waste, but I've been told that it's incinerated.

[CelticGoddess, BSN, RN]

We drain them in the cactus then toss the bags into a black bin. We also need a witness to waste