How do you waste medications?

[WondeRNurse]

We are all aware of the controversy about medications in our water supply, especially after the AP's report earlier this year. What I (and other nurses I work with) want to know is this: How do YOU waste medications? What kind of meds are they? What kind of a facility do you work in? Where are you located? Are there state laws in your area that mandate a certain practice? And, what would you, if you could, do to improve the wasting of meds in your facility?

I know, this is a broad-ranged question, but it would be SO GOOD to know what we are all doing, and to see what Nurses can do to make a difference! :loveya:

[Lexxie, LPN]

My LTCF also sends any meds back to the pharmacy that we're able to. Anything that cannot be sent back is crushed and put into the sharps container. Duragesic patches are supposed to be cut up and put into the sharps container. Roxanol etc. is still put in the sink though.

[GrumpyRN63, ADN, RN]

We put most narcs down the sink,have special containers for D-listed drugs that get wasted that aren't narcs,(coumadin, nicotine patches., lots on the list) fentanyl patches are supposed to be flushed down the toilet, (in HH) but I end up putting them in the garbage, in the hospital , the sharp box

[ThatPoshGirl]

You know, I guess if ya **** (pee) and moan long enough, things finally get changed! I kept telling our supervisor that flushing wasted meds was NOT an environmentally sound option! Never has been! I initiated the use of an empty pop bottle, fill it with the pills, top of with water, make sure they dissolve and into the trash. Still not a perfect solution. This brings me to a serious medication dilema I have regarding storage of meds not being used......I will start a new thread.....please join me there. I need support and feedback!

Considering how many times I have accidentally taken a swig from the wrong soda can and ended up with cigarette water in my mouth... this idea kinda scares me...

[WondeRNurse]

I continue to thank everyone for their reponses and request all viewers to share and/or comment. This is a HUGE ISSUE, and one that can be directly influenced by nurses' actions!!!!! The issue is not going to go away. Rather, it must be dealt with. My research has lead me to understand that there are regulations---but either they are not enforced, or facilities are not fined for failing to enforce these regulations. Repeatedly (as you can read here), it is common practice to dump the meds into the water supply.

Psalm51, thank you for the links: I will add them to the plethora of info I have compiled on this subject.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO ADD YOUR EXPERIENCE TO THIS BLOG. YOUR EXPERIENCE AND VOICE MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN GETTING CHANGE TO THIS METHODOLOGY!!!!! The more who respond, the louder the voice!

On a more humorous (but still serious) note, I thought this emoticon characterizes the way John Q. Public feels when hearing of the outlandish waste practices going on in our health care system today:

Let's make a difference, Nurses!!!

[neneRN, BSN, RN]

I squirt wasted injectables right into the regular trash or just throw the remaining med in the sharps if its still in the vial...rarely have to waste a pill, but would throw it in the sharps container.

Should've done this thread as a poll to get some numbers...

[WondeRNurse]

neneRN, I had the same idea, to do this as a poll---so I am!

Please, anyone reading this thread, hop over to "Nursing Polls" and contribute!!!

I believe the environmental concerns are huge, and we are strong.

This issue is not going to go away. It will only get bigger until it has to be dealt with.

[WondeRNurse]

PLEASE RESPOND! Everyone, talk with your co-workers and friends, families. See what they think, and share here!

[jcardwell]

Wow I'm so glad I found this thread. I'm an RN working on getting my MSN so I'm back in school again . We have an assignment to write to a government official about a health care related issue. The wasting of meds down the sink have been on the back of my mind every since the report came out a few months ago about drugs found in the drinking water. We currently put all wasted meds....liquids, pills, PCA drugs down the sink. We cannot use the sharp containers because the hospital people feel that people are going to go fishing through the sharps to get drugs. I read our hospital policy and it said that sending the drugs down the sink is the right thing to do.

I just don't agree with putting the drugs in the sink. Water is a big circle of "life" and it will either go back into our mouths as drinking water or a cow will drink that water, we will eat the cow and it is back into our body again. I'm going to write my state senator and see if I can get a response. Has it worked for anyone else?

Jill

[dreamingofbeing]

At the facility I work at now they want you to flush any wasted meds including patches. At my previous facility we put all solid wasted meds and patches in the sharps box and the IV med waste went down the drain. I worked on an Onc unit previously and we wasted quite a bit more than I waste now so I still occassionaly put my waste in the sharp box without thinking.

[mykrosphere]

ive got reprimanded for throwing out percs in a sharps container after they fell on the floor, but most places i have worked, have used the sharps container for waste, unless its IV, the maybe a sink or some other receptacle

[NeoNurseTX, RN]

I'm NICU, so no pills, but we waste in the sink or squirt in trash, sometimes I see vials going in the sharps box.

[bryan_walker2002]

We had the county inspector come through. He told us DO NOT WASTE MEDS IN THE SINK. He said to throw them into the pharmacuetical waste sharps container and do not squirt them into that either because it could cause a chemical reaction. As long as you keep the container in a secure location the meds should be safe from being stolen. Even with morphine syringes, if we only use half, the rest goes into the container still in the syringe. Nobody but staff has access to the place where we keep these and when they leave our department they go to a third party vendor that incinerates them.