Senior care nurses have busy workdays caring for elderly residents and maintaining proper records.  Maintaining a proper chain of custody of pharmaceuticals, especially controlled substances, is one of the most important tasks of nurses in any environment, including long term care (LTC).  It is critical to dispose of pharmaceuticals properly to prevent drug diversion and contamination to the water supply.

LTC facilities have been a big contributor to environmental contamination as most facilities practiced flushing outdated medications down the drain up until 2014 with the passing of the Final Rule to the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).  With this recent ruling, flushing is no longer allowed and all expired or unused medications must be disposed of within 3 business days.

Several environmental studies have confirmed the significance of pharmaceutical waste contaminating our water supply.  The EPA Management Standards for Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals and Amendment to the P075 Listing for Nicotine issued in August of 2019 made sewering hazardous waste pharmaceuticals illegal in all 50 states.

Maintaining a safe, compliant, and efficient drug disposal system is challenging in any environment. Due to the amount of unused or abandoned medications in LTC facilities, they have played a major role in contributing to unsafe drug disposal practices which are bad for the environment and leave open instances for drug diversion.

Drug Disposal Solutions for Long Term Care Facilities

Nurses and healthcare workers in long term care facilities require an efficient drug disposal method that is safe and easy to follow.  Rx Destroyer™ offers convenient drug disposal solutions for busy healthcare facilities with easy to use containers in a variety of sizes.  The patented* formula quickly neutralizes medications and renders them non-retrievable which meets DEA regulations for compliant drug disposal.