What's in your sharps container?

[dontwakeme]

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?

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Sharps, anything with patient blood on it such as glucometer strips and lancets, and the occasional wasted pill.

[kat7ap]

med wastes, any kind of syringe (even those without a sharp), lancets. Our protocol is that only items saturated with blood enough that it can drip off or items from isolation pts should go into the biohazard trash. All others can go into the regular trash.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

We don't have a very clear-cut policy on this, does anyone else?

If my facility has a policy on what to place inside the sharps containers, then they have not made the employees aware of it. Here are some non-sharp things that I have seen inside sharps containers at my workplace:

1. Used alcohol wipes

2. Wasted pills

3. Caps

4. Rubber tourniquets

5. Used vials

[Scrubby]

Someone at my work has been putting apple cores into the sharps waste