What's in your sharps container?

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I've been an RN for almost two years now and I've seen nurses throw the most amazing trash into sharps containers. We were taught in school that sharps waste was paid for by the pound and it's the most expensive trash in town, and never never to put anything in there that wasn't a sharp. We don't have a very clear-cut policy on this, does anyone else?

Specializes in Orthosurgery, Rehab, Homecare.

Why not draw all the narc from the vial and squirt the little bit of waste into the regular trash can? It's not like it's a lot of liquid and what ever paper is in there absorbs it. As for pills, they get crushed and then poured into the trash. The empty vial then can go in the regular trash as well. That's how I've done it, but there are others who put all manner of things in the sharps.

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Specializes in Cath Lab, OR, CPHN/SN, ER.

Mostly insulin needles right now. Before I snagged a sharps box from the health dept, the nurse at the school before me had an orange juice bottle with "BIOHAZARD" written all over it! Great for a short term fix, but if I could get a sharps box, I was!

Strangest thing I have ever seen in one- a suction container with a dead snake in it. I promise. LOL Someone had brought the snake in "to show what bit me", and it was dead. Don't know how it ended up there.

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Specializes in ER,ICU,L+D,OR.

but who is weird enough to reach in their no matter what is thrown in there.

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Specializes in PICU.

Slightly OT but when doing inventory one day on our mobile ICU units, I found FOUR pieces of gum stuck on the area where you drop your needles and syringes. I cannot imagine why on earth someone would ever do such a thing (HAD to be either a nurse or RT) without realizing how dangerous this was, with the risk of a sharps sticking there and poking the next person to try to use it.

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We also waste narcotics in our sharps container, including used Fentanyl patches, PCA tubing, and Dilaudid/morphine syringes & vials.

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Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.
but who is weird enough to reach in their no matter what is thrown in there.

I know staff would never do that, but when I was working at a different hospital, there was a pt who ripped the sharps container off the wall and started digging around in it for meds.

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This is interesting to see the differences... and I can only suppose you wouldn't WANT to know some of the stuff in there!

Here's the one that always makes me think, and I see both ways all the time. If you are using needleless tubing, where you don't even need the plastic blunt tip (the luer lock matches up), for IV pushes, do you put the plastic syringe in the sharps when you're done?

Same idea - do you put empty syringes from central line flushes in the sharps?

Just curious - there's truly no needle, but I've seen many nurses very opinionated on one way or another. So... which do you do? Sharps or trash?

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Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).

Honestly though....here in NICU, 10 feet from where I am sitting there are probably 800 vials of morphine, phenobarb, fentanyl and versed sitting in our sharps container by the Pyxis. We waste about 99% of the dose in each vial. I sometimes wonder if the guy who picks that one up doesn't stick it in his trunk, take it home, and pry it open. He'd never have to work again.

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Specializes in Emergency.
Just curious - there's truly no needle, but I've seen many nurses very opinionated on one way or another. So... which do you do? Sharps or trash?

All used syringes should go in the sharps containers, no matter if they have a needle on them or not. Think about it from the housekeepers' perspective. You are grabbing a bag of trash and see a syringe - you think, "Could the needle have come unscrewed and is now in the trash somewhere?" Our housekeepers are really strict on the rules (as they should be) and would kill us if they found a syringe in the trash :D

We waste our narcs down the drain after drawing them up in a syringe and then throw the glass vial and the syringe in the sharps. Talk about waste!

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Specializes in NICU.
At my facility yes. We actually waste morphine and dilaudid PCA vials in them because we can no longer dispose of the drugs down the drain due to water contamination. Someone hits the mother lode when emptying our sharps containers.

We have large Pharmacy disposal containers, about the size of a 13 gallon trash can. All meds, IV fluids and attached tubing go into these. We are not supposed to waste any meds into the sink. The containers are sealed and eventually incinerated.

I still see trash in the sharps containers, used 2 x 2's, alcohol wipes and the packets, too. Sometimes left stuffed in the top, so you can't get a syringe in without pushing the trash down. :rolleyes:

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Specializes in School Nursing.

throwing anything but "sharps" in the sharps container is just setting the next person up for an accident.

praiser :heartbeat

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I found an article by Dr. Peggy Seidman and Dr. Brian Parker titled "Sharps Disposal in the OR: Current Medical Practices and Costs". It is very informative and answered several questions I had concerning this issue. I work in a surgery center and we spend a lot of money of disposal of sharps. It was discovered that anesthesia was throwing away needleless syringes, empty glass vials and other trash taking up a lot room in the containers. According to this article, it is not mandatory to throw those items into a sharps container. I hope this helps.

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