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.
Yes if the sheets and blankets are badly soiled we toss them too., not often but it happens. We give each pt a disposable BP cuff. Hmm,new BP cuff or clean pillow next to my face.... Let me think about it. Each of our pillows come 2 or 3 to a package and we always have a clean supply room filled. I don't know why this is such a mortal sin if management is ok with it.
Well most of us find it an appalling waste but as you say if your facility seems to have no problems with one patient use and discarding of pillows who are we to care? Wonder if somehow the place knows nursing staff is chucking bed pillows after discharge and simply padding the cost into the bill? At the rate they must be going through the things it must mean substantial orders are placed often enough which could result in bulk pricing.
Because there's nothing better to put in landfills and trash our planet with than pillows and linens that could easily be laundered just because you (general, nonspecific) find them "icky".
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.
Most hospitals I've worked in use the disposable pillows. There are also the plastic covered ones, which are also much nicer as far as pillows go. I would never throw one of those covered ones out as they are meant to be cleaned and reused! Once the plastic material is not intact, then yes, discard. Otherwise, no way.
And no, I would not mind that pillow with a fresh pillowcase next to my face after it has been disinfected with the same wipes we use to wipe down all our rooms including contact ones.
If I was your manager and caught you wasting resources like that, I would have a chat with you. For goodness' sakes!
Yes if the sheets and blankets are badly soiled we toss them too., not often but it happens. We give each pt a disposable BP cuff. Hmm,new BP cuff or clean pillow next to my face.... Let me think about it. Each of our pillows come 2 or 3 to a package and we always have a clean supply room filled. I don't know why this is such a mortal sin if management is ok with it.
I"m a little confused about the BP cuff OR pillow thing, can you clarify? Also I think were more appalled at the careless waste here. We all do care about careless spending as well but mostly the impact on the environment. It's like leaving your car and AC running while you're in the store so you don't have to get into a hot car, it's not seeing the bigger picture. By bigger picture I mean think about all the resources that went into that one pillow. We all know outsourcing is cheaper.
1. Some third party company probably bought them from another company where they were made in china with women/child labor.
2. The factory that made them had all the materials produced and shipped to them and THOSE factories had all the materials produced and shipped to them, and so on and so fourth.
3. The pillows were then shipped thousands of miles on a barge using millions of gallons of gas.
4. The pillows were driven/flown to the third party warehouse.
5. The pillows were driven/flown to the hospital.
In every step was resource utilization primarily of oil and gas along with subsequent pollution.
But their face only touches the pillowcase which was laundered and probably covered with poop at one point.
I can't even believe I am still arguing this like I actually care. I know the pillowcase is clean , not sure about the pillows. We don't clean them and all I said was I don't trust our housekeeping department practices. Glad you all do.
My gosh. I'm sure the same people who are arguing about how wasteful it is to throw out pillows and about how clean once excrement-laden washcloths are after they are washed would not blink an eye if they themselves (or one of their loved ones) received a fresh, brand new pillow or washcloth should they be hospitalized (God forbid).
I can't even believe I am still arguing this like I actually care. I know the pillowcase is clean , not sure about the pillows. We don't clean them and all I said was I don't trust our housekeeping department practices. Glad you all do.
Well geez so sorry to have been burdening you with the weight of this topic the past few days like I said this is something that I care about (not being wasteful) and as I've said before it really makes me cringe to see people being wasteful. You saying you know the pillow case is clean contradicts everything you've said so far about the 'questionable laundry practices' and justifying why you toss sheets/blankets/pillows.....are you coming to the light? lol. I trust housekeeping and the wipes and cleaning products they use.
LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN
8,429 Posts
One can place plastic around anything to retain "freshness" to a product, washed or new.
Reminds me of dry cleaners and my (short-lived) retail days...lol.