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:

[Mommy&RN, BSN, RN]

This recently came up on my unit. A fellow nurse was wasting an almost full PCA bag of dilaudid. It ended up going down the water supply. Due to the large quantity this raised some eyebrows and started some discussion, but smaller amounts of meds are routinely wasted down the sink on our unit w/o hesitation. With pills I put them in the sharps container. With IVP narcs I draw them up and waste the unused portion by squirting it in the regular trash. The empty vial goes in the sharps container. Non-narcotics I just draw up what I need. The rest stays in the vial and goes in the sharps container. Wonde - Are you and your fellow nurses working on a research project?

This is basically what we do. We also have blue "sharps like" boxes where we put fentanyl patches, nicotine patches, nitro paste. The pharmacy puts a note on the MAR stating it is a hazardous waste.

[canned_bread]

In my facility this is how we do it: If it is a scheduled medication (ie morphine) we are to put it down the sink so no one can get at it. If it is any other medication or a liquid, we are to put it into the sharps bin. The rationale is the scheduled medications shouldn't go into sharps bin because if people are desperate they could actually get at it... but we want as less medication going down the sink as possible.