Emptying linen and garbage bags. ..part of a Nurses jobs description?

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN · Mar 31, 2011

Cleaning staff are hired to empty garbages. I don't know if it is under a nurses scope of practice. I know I wasn't taught to do it in nursing school. As mentioned, most facilities I know have a "no-lifting policy" for patients.

Your nursing school probably didn't think it was necessary to teach you how to empty garbage. They probably figured that you had done this in your life sometime. What they DID teach you was the use of proper body mechanics while lifting heavy things. They also taught you to ask for help when lifting. As for being "out of the scope of our practice"...I am not sure about that one. It would be out of our scope of practice as nurses to autonomously write a prescription while making a diagnosis, but I doubt that emptying garbage is out of our scope of practice.

We all work for the care of the patients that we serve. The "not my job" mentality only makes for rifts among team members. All of us-the nurses, aides, pharmacy staff, docs, housekeepers, managers, stock room staff are part of ONE team with ONE objective. I am not going to stand for garbage and linen bags to get to overflowing in my pt's room, so I will empty it myself. I couldn't care less if it is someone else's job or not. Hell, even some of our docs empty the garbage and make up the beds! Just the other day, an attending surgeon was mopping the OR floor because we were short staffed and needed to get the room turned over.

Perhaps it has just never occurred to me NOT to perform a simple task based on the view that it is someone else's responsibility. Maybe I am erroneous in this view. I will say that if I am emptying linens and garbage bags while the person responsible for this task is chatting in the hallway on the phone with their friends, I will light into them. However, if the unit is slammed and we are short staffed, I don't give it a second thought.

I am not sure if I addressed your question or not. I am not sure if I even interpreted your question correctly. I guess I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the concept of not emptying a garbage bag. Why wouldn't you?

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN · Mar 31, 2011

So I think most nurses do help cleaning staff by emptying linen and garbage bags if they are full. Especially on the night shift where there is less cleaning staff. Some even dispose of them down a chute. But what if you injure yourself while lifting these?...are you covered? Are you concerned about your own safety and refuse to do it?

Well, think of another scenario: what if you get a needlestick while injecting a pt? Are you covered? Are nurses going to refuse to give shots because of the safety risk? Of course not. We have workers comp and Risk Managers for a reason....because sometimes accidents happen and the work we do can sometimes put us in danger. Even if you follow all of the proper procedures, accidents happen. This is unfortunately just part of the job.

BluegrassRN · Mar 31, 2011

Maintaining a clean, safe environment is within your nursing scope of practice. It take two seconds to empty a trash can. It's the expectation at our hospital that all trash cans and linen bags be emptied at the end of each shift and whenever necessary. It's a combined responsibility of whomever is taking care of that pt (aide, RN, LPN, whomever)...whoever notices the trash needs out, empty it.

It is ultimately the responsibility of the nurse to provide for a clean environment. If that means emptying the trash because there aren't any housekeepers available, do it. Don't moan that you might hurt yourself. Get to it before it gets that full!

MedSurgeMe · Mar 31, 2011

At our facility, housekeeping won't clean up bodily floods. I find it really annoying. At burger king, if there is vomit on the table or poo in the toilet or pee on the floor, housekeepers clean it up. So I think it's silly that housekeeping won't go near bodily fluids. If they worked ANYWHERE else, they'd have to have contact with bodily fluids.

For the rate that I make, verse what a housekeeper makes, it doesn't make any financial sense to have nurses do this.

joanna73, BSN, RN · Mar 31, 2011

I don't empty garbage (except for my med cart garbage) or linens. Housekeeping or NAs do that. Mainly, its housekeeping, where I work. However, it isn't beneath me to do so.

SummitRN, BSN, RN · Mar 31, 2011

Looking at things from a managerial point of view, why the heck pay a RN a RN's salary to do laundry, empty trash, or even have something like cleaning poo as a primary assigned task? RN's are paid for their education, skill, and experience. Cleaning feces, emptying the trash, and bagging soiled linen are all unskilled labor and I'd want to pay unskilled wages for that. Give the RNs tasks requiring their abilities to justify the pay while leaving the poo and garbage to CNAs and housekeepers.

I know someone here is going to jump all over me with "toileting patients is an ADL! NURSING IS ABOUT ADLS!" Why is that a nursing duty? Because Florence did it? No doubt RNs may need to assist, but it is a gross misuse of hospital resources when you pay college educated healthcare professionals to spend significant amounts of their time doing unskilled labor.

That said, I always help out when something needs doing. If nobody is around to take care of business, I'm all over it whether it is a stopped up toilet or the fixing the fax machine!

purse · Mar 31, 2011

We dont wear backbelts at my job, only the cna does, but this one man in cancer had morophine drip for under the tounge, and my co worker went to help him transport to bed, after he got the morophine drip... while they were walking he fell and she tried to not catch him but just stepped in to so he could catch his balance, well my cowoker ended up falling with this man who was 200 lb. ontop of her and really hurt her back, workers comp denied her for 1) not wearing a back belt and 2) trying to catch someone...

freaking rediculous, because backbelts dont stop your back from getting hurt, they just remind you to lift properly...which in this case she wasnt lifting!

and also, if a pt was falling i know were not suppose to catch them, but REALLY?! i think anyones instinct would kick in if they saw someone falling, I wouldnt just let them fall over

CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN · Mar 31, 2011

Wow...not in our scope of practice....never taught this in nursing school???

Who empties your trash at home?

As far as being covered...yeah...read your job description "other duties as assigned"

makes needs known · Mar 31, 2011

Our housekeeping dept. only works until 3 or 4p. So laundry/garbage bags on 2nd and 3rd shift that need emptying are emptied by nursing staff. And if a laundry bag gets too heavy for one to lift easily, we are encouraged to ask for help to lift it. I like the idea to empty bags when they are only 1/2 full. But we are very busy and that doesn't always happen. I'm sure if we filled out an incident report, we would be admonished for not working smarter. They are always telling us to work smarter.

StNeotser, ASN, RN · Mar 31, 2011

At our facility, housekeeping won't clean up bodily floods. I find it really annoying. At burger king, if there is vomit on the table or poo in the toilet or pee on the floor, housekeepers clean it up. So I think it's silly that housekeeping won't go near bodily fluids. If they worked ANYWHERE else, they'd have to have contact with bodily fluids.
For the rate that I make, verse what a housekeeper makes, it doesn't make any financial sense to have nurses do this.

It is perplexing to me that in a workplace with the most bodily fluids the housekeepers are not expected to clean it. I have been around long enough that I remember when housekeeping used to do it.

I don't think that many nurses here are saying it is beneath them, from my point of view it is just another thing added to my long list of urgent demands. We have time constraints and often higher priorities. The most put upon department in healthcare is always expected to be a team player and be Johnny on the Spot for absolutely everythng but no other department is.

Kooky Korky, BSN, RN · Mar 31, 2011

But what if you injure yourself while lifting these?...are you covered? Are you concerned about your own safety and refuse to do it?
[/quote
What would happen if one of the cleaning staff injured themselves lifting the bag? Maybe they should be concerned about their safety and refuse to do it too.
Emptying garbage bags, linen bags is part of my job. We change them at 1/2 full and follow safe lifting techniques. As someone else said, if you can't safely manage a linen bag how are you going to manage a large pt?
I came into Nursing at a time when Housekeeping or nurses' aides did this. Where I work, this is still the case.
I resent and see no reason for me to have to do these tasks while the aforementioned staff sit around and I still have charting, reporting, etc. to do.

Kooky Korky, BSN, RN · Mar 31, 2011

At our facility, housekeeping won't clean up bodily floods. I find it really annoying. At burger king, if there is vomit on the table or poo in the toilet or pee on the floor, housekeepers clean it up. So I think it's silly that housekeeping won't go near bodily fluids. If they worked ANYWHERE else, they'd have to have contact with bodily fluids.
For the rate that I make, verse what a housekeeper makes, it doesn't make any financial sense to have nurses do this.

I agree with you except that I have never seen anyone at a fast food restaurant except the same workers who do the cash register and otherwise work behind the counter.