Disposing of Used Suction Canisters

[capnnikkiRN]

Hello all! I am working at a facility where the nurses are emptying suction canisters (connected to an NGT) at least once every shift.Many of the places I have worked at did not want us to open the canisters.

I would like to know the practices at other facilities?

Does anyone know where to find research on this matter?

Thanks for your input.

[skislalom]

We red-bag them and dispose of them in biohazard. Re-using containers...YUCK!

[capnnikkiRN]

I agree, it is yuck. (The canister stays with the same patient. Still, yuck)

[Roy Fokker, BSN, RN]

Some of the nurses on my floor dump the used canisters in "general waste".

I've always made it a point to dump into a red "Bio Hazard" bag.

We never ever REUSE a canister.

cheers,

[allantiques4me]

Weve always thrown away the whole unopened canisters in Red biohazard bags.I beleive maybe you could reveiw

Universal Precautions that might help.That sounds dangerous

[SteveNNP, MSN, NP]

We can't even get our canisters open to dump them. We dump fluid absorber in the top hole to solidify the ;liquid inside, then cap and dump in the biohazard bags. NEVER reuse suction canisters. Fill 'em up and toss 'em. You can mark the side of the canister to figure how much has accumulated since the last measurement.

[suzanne4, RN]

Moving this to general nursing forum since it is not in the form of a poll and you will get more responses there.

The cannisters should not be emptied and then reused. All you are doing is leaving any infected material still in there to be able to travel up the tubing and to the patient. The contents should never be emptied into general waste, and should just be sealed and disposed of in red biohazard bags. Some facilities have a powder that you add so that the contents will solidify. But never just poor out the waste into the garbage bags. If anything, and what we used to do in the old days was to empty it into the hopper and it was flushed away.

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To the poster with the specific questions as to what to do with the contents: Contact your infection control dept first. Your facility should also have a policy and procedure in place as to what to do, and I am sure that you can find it written there.

And if they are emptying the cannisters from the NGT, what are they doing with respiratory secretions that are removed when the patient is suctioned? How often are the cannisters being changed out? That is even more important.

[TazziRN, RN]

The ones that come with solidifying powder can be tossed in the regular trash, but never open the canister and dump the contents separately. When the powder is not available, toss in the medical biohazard waste containers.