Every time I waste a narcotic down the drain due to a partial dose order, I can't help but cringe. My floor does not want us to waste meds in the sharps container, and we do not have any other type of disposal method except the drain. Can you imagine the amount of drugs we put into the water supply each day?
Have any of your facilities adopted a different type of disposal method? I'd love to share options with my manager/ pharmacists.
At work, we have med disposal bins in the med room. We put expired/DC'd meds in there and they are picked up by some type of medication disposal company. What they do with them, I don't know. Pills are removed from their packaging before going in the bins, liquids and creams are put in the bin in their original container (with Rx label removed) so they don't make a mess. Controlled meds go in a locked box in the DON's office until the pharmacist comes and they destroy them (I have no idea what that entails)
Last time I cleaned out my medicine cabinet at home, I just threw the pills in the garbage. But it was just an old bottle of Colace and some expired multi-vitamins, nothing too exciting.
kmarie724
280 Posts
At work, we have med disposal bins in the med room. We put expired/DC'd meds in there and they are picked up by some type of medication disposal company. What they do with them, I don't know. Pills are removed from their packaging before going in the bins, liquids and creams are put in the bin in their original container (with Rx label removed) so they don't make a mess. Controlled meds go in a locked box in the DON's office until the pharmacist comes and they destroy them (I have no idea what that entails)
Last time I cleaned out my medicine cabinet at home, I just threw the pills in the garbage. But it was just an old bottle of Colace and some expired multi-vitamins, nothing too exciting.