LOL! How do you guys dispose of IV antibiotics?

[Maestrojo]

I'm just a technician working in a hospital pharmacy but even I know there is something wrong with disposing of IV antibiotics down the drain.

Most of the pharmacist I work with are "old school" so they really don't care.

I know there has got to be some sort of protocol. Heck, we can't even throw away basic organic chemicals in O-Chem, so how is it safe to dump antibiotics like:

Levaquin/Vancomycin/Zyvox/Rocephin/Caspofungin/Fortaz/Ancef/premixed amino acids and lipids down the drain?

Also, if it is a bad thing to do, how would you dispose of them properly?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[njac]

some people pour them down the drain, others throw them away. I don't know what's right, they're going to end up in the water no matter what.

 

[pharmacogenomic]

There are trash containers in the IV room lined with red contaminated waste liners.

The old/wasted IVs go there, along with anything used for chemo (not sharps).

It then gets picked up by the provider for the hospital who disposes of all contaminated waste. Its incinerated according to my state laws for this type of waste - doesn't get put down a drain.

 

[Orthonut]

at the VTH we squirt it into kitty litter and then put it in the biohaz bags.

 

[humira49]

at the VTH we squirt it into kitty litter and then put it in the biohaz bags.

thats the "official" ASHP/APhA policy.

good job!

 

[njac]

at the VTH we squirt it into kitty litter and then put it in the biohaz bags.

that's what we do with wasted narcotcs - tablets/caps and liquids. I hate to think of the volumes of kitty litter we'd go through with all of the IV abx we waste...

 

[Maestrojo]

There are trash containers in the IV room lined with red contaminated waste liners.

The old/wasted IVs go there, along with anything used for chemo (not sharps).

It then gets picked up by the provider for the hospital who disposes of all contaminated waste. Its incinerated according to my state laws for this type of waste - doesn't get put down a drain.

hm, we have are really small version of one of those bins because ist for chemo only.

i'll have to ask them about that.