We are told that if we don't dispose of things in the proper container, it costs the hospital hundreds of dollars a day to pay people to sort it (hey there are worse job than ours). This is supposed to make us feel bad and motivate us to sort it into the proper container. Not. Doesn't happen. Its crazy to expect us to do this.
Today we learned that all used IV bags must be placed in zip lock bags and then disposed of. Why? Who the hell knows..to make the ziploc people rich? What gets me about all this, is where all the meds we waste, IVs we waste go: right down into the city sewer system. It is a known fact that drugs have been found at very low levels in water systems. Don't worry about that, just remember to put your empty IV bag into a ziploc...
Is it just me, or does this job get bat shit crazier every day?
Yes. Yes, it does. And don't forget there is a special cozy spot for used batteries. Yikes
ReplyDeleteI totally friggin' agree. The cure? When nursing turns into a predominately male vocation. That's when. When white, American males are inconvenienced, that's when things change and only then. As long as it's mostly women in nursing, the demands with continue to get crazier and crazier. I, for one, would like to apply for the medical waste sorting job. I'll take needlestick contamination risk over ER nursing, any day. Easy peasy.
ReplyDeleteYes this is crazy!! What do you do when you have a trauma case and running multiple IV bags?? Who comes up with these stupid ideas. Now there is more plastic waste using a ziploc bag.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm I haven't heard the zip loc bag theory yet. Wonder when it will make it to my hospital??
ReplyDeleteThe most benign corporation makes the most corrupt union look like Snow White. Want a voice in the workplace, or would you rather continue to be exploited, with the conditions getting worse and worse? Contact a union organizer, I freaking dare you.
ReplyDeleteThis is the sort of not-really-plausible scenario that starts off horror movies. Add homeless people: C.H.U.D. III. Add urban legends of flushed pets: yet another giant mutant alligator movie. Add improperly-disposed body parts: paging Doctors Cronenberg and Bottin to the lab, we're gonna have some fun with body horror.
ReplyDeleteReminds me actually of a South Korean monster movie called "The Host," which many people liked but I couldn't finish (weird tone problems) -- the monster, some sort of mutated salamander-squid, gets that way when an American pathologist orders his Korean assistant to dump a billion bottles of formaldehyde down the drain because they're dusty (in other words, Americans are jerks). We all know that if anything gets into the water supply, it will immediately turn all local organisms into giant, bloodthirsty puppets/animated GIFs.