Sharps Containers

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I'm at a private school in Illinois. The nurse I replaced said she has no idea what to do with the sharps container, but its larger so it didn't fill during her 2 years as nurse. There isn't a number on the container (pharmacy told me to look), and the few pharmacies I called said they won't take it. I emailed a colleague at a nearby school, but got no response. What do I do with it?

Specializes in OB, Medical-Legal, Public Health.

In public health department we had a service which picked up our sharp containers on a scheduled basis. Your health department might be able to help since you probably know them through immunizations.

If you, or a nursing student you are mentoring, need a project, how about a safety policy to address this?

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
I'm at a private school in Illinois. The nurse I replaced said she has no idea what to do with the sharps container, but its larger so it didn't fill during her 2 years as nurse. There isn't a number on the container (pharmacy told me to look), and the few pharmacies I called said they won't take it. I emailed a colleague at a nearby school, but got no response. What do I do with it?

Some police stations and hospitals take them - the actual company that makes Sharps containers has a mail back program with prepaid overnight shipping and receiving. so when you get a new one you might try them - but I would check with your local health department.

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Specializes in ED, School Nurse.

We have 2 local hospitals, each owned by different "parent" hospital systems. One hospital will accept sealed sharps containers from anywhere, one will not accept any sharps containers from the community.. The one that accepts sharps containers will actually give me replacement sharps containers free of charge, which I did not find out until AFTER installing the wrong sized wall-mounted sharps container holder.

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We drop ours off to the health department.

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I had a similar problem only it was three full sharps containers on the floor of the med closet, two looked like they had been there since the 80s. I had to call around a bit because in NJ, you cannot transport them without a hazardous waste certificate.

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Specializes in Cardiology, School Nursing, General.

Wow... I had the same question today. So call a local hospital? Who should I ask for if I call?

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Specializes in IMC, school nursing.
Wow... I had the same question today. So call a local hospital? Who should I ask for if I call?

Start with materials management.

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Specializes in Cardiology, School Nursing, General.
Start with materials management.

I actually found a solution that might benefit the OP too. I went to SchoolNurseSupply.com and they have a service where you pay for what size you need sharps container, and they send you a box with it. All you do is pay that one price, and when you are ready to get rid of the container, you put it in the box and you call the number, they will come and get it for you.

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