Throwing out pillows!? Does anyone else do this!?

Nurses Relations

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I'm admittedly a bit of a tree hugger so it bothers me to see waste in general. It makes me cringe at work to see waste. I worked a lot with this one nurse who if a sheet/blanket/towel was moderately/heavily soiled and I don't mean with HIV laden blood I just mean poop or urine she would throw it out! I recently saw her throw out a pillow with a little poop on it! She said would say things like "there's no way the laundry service can get that clean" but I'm pretty sure they do. I say that because people throw poop laden towels in the linen bins all the time and I've never seen an unused towel with poop on it.

I'm sure the laundry service that specifically cleans hospital linens has already thought of this 'how will we sanitize things covered in poop or urine' Also I'm sure they have to meet rigorous standards set by whatever organizations governs that kind of thing.

And there's so many other instances of unnecessary waste, when I worked in the ER if a pt came in with a full bag of lets say NS hung by EMS and the MD ordered a 1 liter NS bolus I would just let the EMS bag run. Why toss it like so many nurses do? I know you have to restart field lines within 24 hours because they're "dirty" but a bag of fluids?! C'mon they're packaged just the same as the hospital bag.

Or when you walk in to an incontinent pt's room and there's like 6 unopened bags of peri wipes, 2 tubes of barrier cream, 8 towels and 4 chux pads. Not only does it drain the main supply room but when the pt leaves all that extra stuff gets thrown out, I like to be prepared to but within reason, only take what you need and maybe one extra for the next shift. Especially if the patient's only gonna be there a day or two, all this waste adds up. It all just factors in to the rising cost of healthcare/taxes/drains on our paychecks (in the big picture/long run) etc.

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Specializes in hospice.

The next time she complains about not getting raises, remind her of how many thousands of dollars she's probably thrown out. At my workplace, one of our heavily promoted cultural beliefs is "spend wisely." The financial health of our agency determines whether we have jobs and benefits, so spend it like you own it.

Have you approached her about this? What was her response? Perhaps you should contact your supervisor, and without naming any names, say you've witnessed this happening and that a reminder and some staff education might be in order. If high costs from waste are linked up with the ability of the organization to provide jobs and benefits, maybe that will hit home.

PS we use pillows that can be sanitized between patients, and as a CNA cleaning them is one of my jobs. I only throw them out when the outer layer is ripped, because that means the ability to completely sanitize is lost.

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The next time she complains about not getting raises, remind her of how many thousands of dollars she's probably thrown out. At my workplace, one of our heavily promoted cultural beliefs is "spend wisely." The financial health of our agency determines whether we have jobs and benefits, so spend it like you own it.

Have you approached her about this? What was her response? Perhaps you should contact your supervisor, and without naming any names, say you've witnessed this happening and that a reminder and some staff education might be in order. If high costs from waste are linked up with the ability of the organization to provide jobs and benefits, maybe that will hit home.

PS we use pillows that can be sanitized between patients, and as a CNA cleaning them is one of my jobs. I only throw them out when the outer layer is ripped, because that means the ability to completely sanitize is lost.

Well the first few times I saw her do it each time I jokingly said something like "wow why'd you throw that whole blanket out?" to which she would say something like "it's too dirty would you want to use that blanket after it was washed" to which I replied "yea, well I'm sure the laundry service must have a pretty heavy duty cleaning process" and then the conversation would end. Each time pretty much went like that. After a while I stopped saying anything because I already had expressed my opinion, she obviously disagreed and I can't micromanage someone and beat a dead horse. But it's really a shame to see waste like that. I didn't think of talking to a supervisor, maybe I'll consider mentioning it at the next meeting or something. I wouldn't say her name but maybe just maybe say something like "I observed a staff member..... and I think a couple other's are wasteful as well, maybe we can review how financial waste impacts us in the next monthly meeting."

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Specializes in Public Health, TB.

OMG, our director's head would explode if she saw a staff member do this. We get linen usage reports monthly and reminders of the linen policy, which includes never discard linen. We have a special hamper for torn and stained things and they get recycled for rags.

Does your coworker discard mattresses or chairs? I'm guessing she never used cloth diapers.

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Specializes in Critical care.

In the past our hospital used disposable pillows and recently went back to vinyl covered. I still throw these out. The amount of stool and other bodily fluids that cover these pillows can't possibly get disinfected by a quick swipe of a cleaning cloth. I would never want one of these pillows next to my face. Ugh. Wonder if the administrators would.

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In the past our hospital used disposable pillows and recently went back to vinyl covered. I still throw these out. The amount of stool and other bodily fluids that cover these pillows can't possibly get disinfected by a quick swipe of a cleaning cloth. I would never want one of these pillows next to my face. Ugh. Wonder if the administrators would.

Do you mean you throw the pillow out after each discharge?

In the vast majority of cases, wiping the pillow off with a disinfectant wipe and applying a clean pillowcase is perfectly fine.

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Specializes in ICU.

Is your employer aware of the waste? I am like you; I try hard to control expenses, because my continued employment and future raises depend on it. I have worked for 2 different hospitals that went bankrupt. Our linen service claims that the method they use is completely adequate.

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Specializes in ICU.

In my 25 years of nursing, I haven't noticed patients dropping dead right and left due to unclean linens. If proper cleaning policy is followed, there shouldn't be a problem.

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Specializes in None yet..
... The financial health of our agency determines whether we have jobs and benefits, so spend it like you own it'''...

Fabulous motto! I'm going to start passing it around where I work.

SPEND IT LIKE YOU OWN IT.

Thanks, dusky!

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

I work for a county hospital, so stewardship of resources is always an issue. In fact once our managers e-mailed our unit pictures of all of the extra unused supplies (lab tubes, Mepilex sacrals, IV start supplies, etc.) from a pt's bedside cart following their transfer to the floor. Pillows are a doubly precious resource not only because of their financial value, but their short supply when we use SO many for positioning our pts. (Four for the limbs, 1-2 behind their backs, and one under their head if they are able.)

We put linens completely soiled with large amounts of stool and blood in the laundry all the time. They come back to us without even a stain--pristine white. Not only do they come back visibly clean, but they come back safe from an infection control standpoint. I'm sure our laundry services could get pillows clean too.

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Fabulous motto! I'm going to start passing it around where I work.

SPEND IT LIKE YOU OWN IT.

Thanks, dusky!

If I "own it", then I am dramatically underpaid.... and where are my stock options?

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Pillows get tossed only when the lovely vinyl cover is punctured. We have a lovely (insert eyeroll) guy in anaesthesia who would put his sharps in the pillow after using them (super safe or what). He quickly stopped that after sending a patient out with the sharp stuck in the pillow above the patients head and the incident poop storm of a report from nursing. It wasn't a one off, either, we had to toss 8 pillows on one shift and he did this for ages.

The odd face cloth goes in an incontinence product. Special bag for torn or overstained clean linen for recycling into rags.

I will always remember one patient who tried to leave the hospital with one full black trash bag filled with sheets, towels, pillowcases, flannel sheets. We didn't know whether to feel sorry for her wanting our linens or amazed at the sheer brass neck of her. When she was stopped she felt they belonged to her because she was a taxpayer and we wouldn't miss it. Never mind the fact that she was on social services and hadn't worked in five years.

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