These just seems so gross to me

[horrorxgirl]

So somebody at my facility has decided to make the rule that the cna's on 11-7 have to collect all of the plastic bed pans from everyone's room and soak them together in some bleach in the soiled utility room. I mean I know that bleach kills a lot of things, but ew. And this will surely wash off all of the names written on the bed pans, people may not get their original bed pan. This just gives me the willies. Am I overreacting here?

[Picklefreak]

My mind says gross and unsanitary, but realistically, **** gets on everything in our rooms. The floors, the walls, the bed frames and mattresses. These just get the normal cleaning from housekeeping between patients. I guess that's really not that much different. But, still! Lol

[grownuprosie]

We also used to clean stool with washcloths.

my first thought after reading this was, "Why would you clean stool?" This was followed by a few moments of trying to justify polishing poop. Then the aahhh moment came. I get it now.

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

while we're on this lovely subject, i have a quick question.

my husband was sent home from wound care rehab about 6 weeks ago. he was sent home with two plastic urinals

because when he gets up at night, to walk to the bathroom, he'd have to put on a special wound dressing cover and

lace on his wooden shoe. we have been soaking them with a tbl of clorox liquid to about a l of water daily. he doesn't

use one every night, but when he does have to go, he uses a urinal.

my question is since we don't have an autoclave, should we be boiling them too? we've also been setting them on

the back porch (faces west) on warm days. thanks!

if you boil them, they will quickly melt into all kinds of neat shapes. i know this because i tried the same thing with my very expensive plastic mouth guard...what used to be my plastic mouth guard.

you are good with clorox.

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

Plastic bedpans are porous. Most disposable plastic items are porous, and that's the reason I don't feed/water my dog using plastic. Too many tiny scratches in the surface become a breeding ground for bacteria. You definitely don't want to autoclave them or you'll be explaining to your NM why she has to replace the clogged and foul smelling autoclave!

Sanitizing them in each room seems much more logical to me.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

wooh...

i certainly hope you were wearing your official allnurses guide cheerleader's uniform when you did that cheer!

it wouldn't have been as good otherwise.:w00t:

i was wearing my official allnurses tiara, forgot to change before i posted..... oops....

my question is since we don't have an autoclave, should we be boiling them too? we've also been setting them on

the back porch (faces west) on warm days. thanks!

you need to turn them upside down and shove them into the ground. this will stop evil spirits from coming up from hades through the ground, as they'll be collected in the urinal. then husband can pee on them and drown them. i'm all about holistic nursing, and this will care for him spiritually as well as physically.

[sharpeimom]

thanks canedukesgirl and wooh!

i've boiled all kinds of things so it's good to know not to boil the urinals. i'll be so darned glad when he's back

in the regulation two matching shoes again!

i was wondering where all the spirits and things would relocate to now that the harry potter series has finished...

i'll report if i see any spirits from hades...

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

When I was a nursing aide on evenings back in nineteen-smumble mumble, we put everyone on the pans at bedtime, and collected them all on the same cart we distributed breakfast trays on. I got to run 'em thru the hopper, including a shot of steam, and then take them all back.

[GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

hoppers...

lord helped you if you held the bedpan the wrong way while you were hopping it...

my ex-husband, who was a maintenance guy at the nursing home, actually devised and constructed nifty clear shields that fit onto the hoppers to prevent splash-back.

i could almost see you hygiene queen wearing the latest "splash-shield" fashion

hoppers... omg i thought they got rid of those way back when

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

I don't understand why they need to be disinfected and redistributed, but. . .

What's the difference between bleaching a bedpan and some housekeeper squirting hospital-strength 409 on a bedside commode? That bedpan's gonna be a lot cleaner than a semi-private room toilet that maybe gets wiped once a day. I personally never understood why 2 semi-private room patients could share a toilet that was inside a bathroom but not a bedside commode, just because it wasn't inside the bathroom. No one ran in the bathroom between patients and disinfected the seat, heck, the patient was lucky if they could get someone else to come move the other person's hat (with urine in it).

I SO do not miss adult care. . .

[IEDave, ASN, CNA, LVN]

...That bedpan's gonna be a lot cleaner than a semi-private room toilet that maybe gets wiped once a day...

Yours got wiped once a day? Sheesh - you were lucky! Spent a good hour wiping toilet seats down last weekend just because I couldn't stand it anymore.

...I SO do not miss adult care. . .

Hasn't changed all that much - pity. But, someone's got to do it!

And, in honor of State doing their inspection at my facility - "FOMITE! FOMITE! Rah, rah, rah!" :w00t:

----- Dave

[katsanchezRN]

Hoppers...

Lord helped you if you held the bedpan the wrong way while you were hopping it...

My ex-husband, who was a maintenance guy at the nursing home, actually devised and constructed nifty clear shields that fit onto the hoppers to prevent splash-back.

BTW...

We also used to clean stool with washcloths.

(I still swear it is the best way to properly clean a patient.)

We rinsed the cloths in the hopper, threw the cloths into a bucket of bleach solution and housekeeping washed the cloths (in house) in the monster washers and killer-hot dryers.

I know some of you will think I worked in a nasty nursing home, but that is the farthest from the truth.

When I tell you that was the cleanest and best run facility I ever did see, you better believe it.

When I started as a cna 14 years ago....we used soap and water and wash rags and also cloth diapers for those who needed them. I still think that is the best way also.

[karamarie91]

What I don't get is when facilities want to reuse towels and washclothes that are saturated in feces/blood/whatever bodily fluid. You can't wash everything out and even if you could, that's just yucky. I dump out heavily soiled linen even though it's heavily discouraged.