Medication Disposal | Do It The Right Way

By Author: jaun Paul
Total Articles: 53
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Getting rid of a patient's medication after she dies is a problem that many health care facilities face. Flush them down the toilet, is what some health care staff thinks. But state regulators beg to differ.


Recently, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo fined two upstate hospitals and three nursing homes for improper medication disposal. When unused pharmaceuticals are flushed out, it allows for the release of painkillers, antibiotics, anti-depressants, hormones and other waste drugs into the watershed, which happens to be the drinking water supply for almost half of the state's residents.


The investigation began when reports that major cities had trace amounts of drugs in their drinking water made the headlines. The healthcare facilities cooperated with the investigation fully.


This is not the headache of only New York Health care providers. Regulators in other states are cracking down too. One way you can get on top of this problem is by way of staff education. You can get more insight from the FDA document ...
... which advises health care providers to seek out community drug-take-back programs or for that matter waste disposal facilities.


In case community drug disposal options are not available, the FDA document advises people to mix the drugs with kitty litter or coffee grounds, seal them up, do away with identifying information and throw them away. This is however not to the liking of some state regulators who are complaining about this method because the drugs end up in landfills.


Another way out is drug dispensing machines, which reduce drug waste, thus slashing the need for disposal.

Provides weekly digest newswire about medical record compliance, and offers advanced Learning Opportunities about FDA document for Health care providers according to 2010 OIG Work Plan.