[Histonet] Histology Medical Waste

[Cassie P. Davis]

In May,  Curt sent this out to Histoland:



"Message: 2
Date: Wed, 11 May 2016 20:18:52 +0000
From: Curt <c.tague at Pathologyarts.com>
To: "histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu"
        <histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Subject: [Histonet] embedding and microtomy "medical waste"
Message-ID:
        <9C8F910F72893643B3C3793C3D67132B67CBAFD6 at PATHOLOGYSERVER.pathologyarts.local>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

So here's a good one for you all... we had the county health department come through the lab and ding us on medical waste... specifically the plastic disposable lids at embedding, the lens paper used for wrapping specimens such as ECC and EMB. Then they got us on the Kim Wipes used to clean the water bath at microtomy... those papers have human tissue on them so they need to be treated as medical waste... NOW we have to have red cans next to all microtomes and embedding stations. The obvious issue outside of cost and logic is that these medical waste cans all seem to have self closing lids which really interferes with the rhythm and pace of work when one needs to reach over with a food to open the lid after every block is embedded and when they water bath is cleaned after every block...

Simple question(s): 1)does anyone else have to do such things to contain the waste, 2) does anyone know of a source for medical waste cans that do not have these frustrating self closing lids... if we could simple remove the lid and replace it when done then we could deal with it, the cost is one thing but slowing down work flow is a problem.

And just for a little more humor, they actually wanted me to contain and dispose of the water runoff from our two automated slide stainers, we run about 2200 slides a night... that would be many gallons of waste water every night and would not be within the budget.... We in turn ran a fish kill test which demonstrated that the water runoff which contain little Hematoxylin, bluing and clarifier do not pose any significant threat to the environment, not even in California....

Bottom line to all this, I need some red trash cans with removable lids, if they're still out there somewhere.... Anywhere.....


Thanks for your input,

Curt

Ps, I didn't proff read thie smail... if something is not spelt correctly, don't hold it against me...."



 I forwarded this to my supervisor, hoping to be proactive. She forwarded it to the person who is in charge of safety at our facitlity. He would like to know which states require the block and slide to be put in biohazard containers before we invest in the containers. Histofolks, please help another Histonetter out and let me know where you are and if you are required to put your shavings, block and or slides in biohazard medical waste.

Thanks!


Cassandra Davis
Histology Technician
Anatomical Pathology Laboratory
Saint Francis Healthcare
701 N. Clayton Street
Wilmington,DE 19805
Office:  302-575-8095
Email:  CDavis at che-east.org<mailto:n at che-east.org>
www.saintfrancishealthcare.org

Confidentiality Notice:
This e-mail, including any attachments is the property of Trinity Health and is intended for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). It may contain information that is privileged and confidential.  Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this message, and reply to the sender regarding the error in a separate email.