Disposing of IV bags?

[PJMommy]

All of our mixed drips and piggyback meds come with a patient label that has all the specifics on it: med record #, pt name, drug concentration, flow rate, etc. We have such hassles disposing of these.... First we were told to peel off the label (yeah, right....since they don't peel nicely - more like 100 little pieces) and dispose in shredder. Then we were to drain the bag and disconnect tubing and walk empty bag to the one and only special disposal dumpster on the unit for IV bags. Compliance is terrible -- most of us just say "to heck with it" and toss in garbage, hoping today isn't the day the hospital's attorney doesn't dig through trash, trying to bust someone for an alleged HIPAA violation.

So, what do you all do with your labeled IV bags???

[mandrews]

We use a black marker and throw them in the garbage.

[lady_jezebel]

All of our mixed drips and piggyback meds come with a patient label that has all the specifics on it: med record #, pt name, drug concentration, flow rate, etc. We have such hassles disposing of these.... First we were told to peel off the label (yeah, right....since they don't peel nicely - more like 100 little pieces) and dispose in shredder. Then we were to drain the bag and disconnect tubing and walk empty bag to the one and only special disposal dumpster on the unit for IV bags. Compliance is terrible -- most of us just say "to heck with it" and toss in garbage, hoping today isn't the day the hospital's attorney doesn't dig through trash, trying to bust someone for an alleged HIPAA violation.

So, what do you all do with your labeled IV bags???

we put ours in the biohazard (there's one in each room).

[icyounurse, BSN, RN]

you know i never thought about it, just dumped them into the trash. it doesn't seem to me that someone is going to dig through hospital trash to find out what iv antibiotic somebody is taking? i guess maybe its the hospital number to worry about. what could someone do with a hospital number? probably a stupid question, but i am just curious about why it would actually matter if iv bags are in the trash. don't we have better stuff to worry about?

[Mimi2RN, ASN, RN]

We have special Pharmacy containers, almost all our IV bags and tubing go into them. Also, all our waste meds, vials etc. are dumped into this container. We are not supposed to empty bags in the sink, except maybe NS. These containers go to be incinerated, so we don't have to worry about labels.

[nurse_1098]

:smackingf

All of our mixed drips .... We have such hassles disposing of these.... First we were told to peel off the label .... -- most of us just say "to heck with it" and toss in garbage, hoping today isn't the day the hospital's attorney doesn't dig through trash, trying to bust someone for an alleged HIPAA violation.

So, what do you all do with your labeled IV bags???

We toss them in the nearest garbage. Fortunately, for us, this has not become an issue (what a pain for those of you that do have to peel the labels or mark them with some black cover marker or sticker!)

[Luv2BAnurse]

When information is faxed about a patient, all of the pertinent information is on that too. Usually there is a disclaimer, especially for email, that if the "wrong" person should receive it, to shred it, as it is intended for certain persons only. I think it would be nice if our trash bags had that printed on it, so we could just "trash" trash! heh

[URO-RN]

I peel the label off and put it in a locked bin marked for shredding.

You can take off the black marker w/ rubbing alcohol....

[wiegel34]

I noticed when i used the black marker that i could still see the name and MR number.

I used to peel off the labels (ours evidently aren't that bad) and stick them to a scrap piece of paper. Then i would put that paper in the shred box. (the whole day's worth of labels, which stayed in my coat pocket.)

We now have a box in our OR specifically for the labeled bags. I don't know how they are destroyed, but there's no complaints so far.

In our hospital we have two piece labels that go throught the middle of the patients name and mr# we are supposed to seperate them and throw them away, but then who remembers that, I throw them in the bio hazard bag as Most of them are chemo bags, I feel fairly sure no one wants to go through these to get any pt. info. and just what are they going to do with that info anyhow? I never heard of anyone using a med record to steal idenity?

[nic_noc1]

I have never thought of the information on IV labels being used in such a way that they infinge on confidentiality.... We do not remove them, or deface them, we just sling them in the clinical waste bin. We do have another bin specifically for confidential waste, but we are NOT allowed to put labels etc in these, as they clog up the shredder!

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

How about a special pair of trauma scissors in place to cut the name and bag and then manually "shred" by clipping it up into the needle container. I never had a label that would come off easily. But I do know trauma scissors will cut ANYthing.