As the demand for healthcare within the home grows, more and more home health companies are hitting the road. There are now approximately 35,000 home health companies in the United States, each with multiple nurses and aids caring for patients and generating waste every day. When it comes to infectious waste disposal guidelines, home health organizations must take special consideration to ensure they manage waste properly. In this article, we’ll provide you with cost-effective medical waste management solutions for home health settings.
Kinds of Waste Generated in Home Health
Technology and advanced care methods have shifted home health, and procedures and tasks previously reserved for more acute settings are now done in livingrooms, kitchens, and bedrooms. For this reason, home healthcare generates many of the same types of waste as hospitals and clinics. These include:
- Sharps
- Unused medications
- IV tubing
- Wound dressings
- Soiled linens
- Soiled personal protective equipment
Challenges of Handling Medical Waste in Home Health Settings
The major challenge to handling medical waste in the home health setting is a lack of connection between the home and the office. While labeled disposal toters and appropriate medical waste containers are available at the home office, most personal homes aren’t set up for proper disposal of medical waste. This can leave nurses looking for creative ways to dispose of medical waste.
Furthermore, home health companies face expenses that clinics do not, including fuel or mileage costs. This makes the implementation of budget-friendly medical waste disposal options even more imperative.
How to Handle Sharps Waste in Home Health
One of the primary medical waste products in home health is sharps. Sharps include:
- Needles
- Lancets (fingerstick devices)
- Auto-injector pens
- Infusion sets
- Hemodialysis connection sets
- Broken glass (often from a dropped medication vial)
Sharps should never be placed directly in the general trash bin in a home or elsewhere as they can puncture through the bag and expose individuals to medications or bloodborne pathogens such as HIV and hepatitis B and C.
To properly dispose of sharps in a home health setting, nurses should carry a puncture-proof sharps container. They can transport the container until it is full and then drop it into the appropriate waste container at the office.
If official medical waste containers for home use are not available, a puncture-resistant receptacle, such as an empty laundry detergent bottle, can be substituted.
Sharps Practices to Avoid
Train your staff to understand the proper handling of sharps and encourage them to pass the knowledge on to patients and families. Furthermore, instruct them to NEVER do these things:
- Attempt to sanitize and reuse sharps
- Clip needles with scissors and place them in the general trash bin
- Attempt to flush sharps
- Place sharps in the regular trash
- Place sharps or sharp-filled containers in the recycling bin
How to Handle Unused Medication Waste in Home Health
When medications go unused due to a change in patient condition, a prescription change, or a patient death, it’s imperative that staff properly handle the leftover portion of medication. Holding on to medications can lead to accidental misuse, exposure to children, and abuse by unauthorized parties. Furthermore, many medications become less effective after sitting for long periods, while some will grow mold or become toxic. They are not something that should be saved “just in case.”
If a patient or their family wishes to, they may take the drugs to a take-back location near them. Most towns and cities have several locations available, often at pharmacies and government buildings. You can use this locator to find a drug take-back location near you.
When home health employees are handling the drugs within the home, such as after a patient’s death, they must take some additional steps for proper disposal. Home health staff should not be required to transport open or leftover medications; instead, they should handle the waste in the home with the patient and have the patient sign a disposal form per company policy. Start by referencing the FDA flush list and dispose of these medications in a toilet. Medications, including tablets, capsules, and liquids that cannot be safely flushed, can be mixed with a substance such as soil, cat litter, or used coffee grounds and sealed in a plastic bag before dropping into a home waste bin.
Remember to always remove all pertinent patient information from medication bottles and boxes before disposing of them in the recycling bin.
Medication Disposal Practices to Avoid
There are some practices that home healthcare providers should always avoid when it comes to disposing of medications in home health. Educate your staff carefully on proper disposal and NEVER allow these practices:
- Medication use by anyone other than their intended recipient
- Flushing all medications without checking the FDA flush list
- Staff taking medications with them when they leave
- Tossing medications into the general waste bin
- Saving medications “just in case”
How to Handle Other Medical Waste in Home Health
As with all regulated medical waste, each home health organization must ensure that its medical waste disposal practices align with local, state, and federal guidelines. Furthermore, certain situations, such as the disposal of chemotherapy waste at home, require additional considerations to reduce the environmental impact of home health waste. Some tips for managing medical waste in home health include:
- Train employees to understand medical waste regulations for home health
- Provide employees with red bags to properly contain medical waste
- Develop practices that ensure timely and lawful disposal of medical waste
- Provide education for patients and caregivers on proper household medical waste disposal
- Audit your medical waste disposal program regularly
- Schedule medical waste pickups to maintain a safe working environment
- Work with a trusted medical waste disposal provider to ensure you are maintaining regulatory compliance in home health waste disposal
Like hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare organizations, home health providers must practice strict compliance with biohazard waste management laws at all times. Fortunately, you can implement best practices for home healthcare waste management in just a few easy steps.
We are MedWaste Management – California’s medical waste disposal experts!
Established in 2008, MedWaste Management fills a need for compliant and safe medical waste disposal in the healthcare industry and the general public alike. We publish this blog to share valuable and practical information to help you stay safe, informed, and healthy!
Call us with any questions or to start service at (866) 254-5105. We are always happy to help!
Check out our services and other great resources in the links below.
Medical Waste Disposal Services
Learn How To Properly Manage & Dispose of Household Medical Waste
Tammy McKinney, RN, is a healthcare writer and seasoned registered nurse. With experience in acute care, long-term care, rehabilitation, drug & alcohol, and hospice & palliative care, she combines her medical understanding with her love for writing to educate and inform the public on various health-related topics. You can contact her directly on LinkedIn!
