From: sbharris@ix.netcom.com(Steven B. Harris)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: needle disposal
Date: 14 Mar 1999 16:57:52 GMT

In <36EBCA37.28F81AB6@gw-tech.com> Carey Gregory <cgregory@gw-tech.com>
writes:
>
>Shapere wrote:
>>
>> Thanks, everyone. (Carey: I think the world would be a duller place
>> without wacky, difficult, expensive ideas where simple, cheap ones
>> would suffice.)
>
>Well, it's gratifying to know I helped make the world a more interesting
>place.
>
>> Does anyone have any particular opinions as to whether I should dump
>> the syringes in this plastic container as well as the needles? (They
>> aren't actually being used to inject anything, just to draw solution
>> out of the ampuls.)
>
>Disassembling syringes is a good way to get stuck... not the end of the
>world since it's only been in an ampule, but painful.
>
>--
>Carey Gregory


   It also happens to be the law that you have to put the used syringes
in the hard needle trap, even those that have never had a needle on
them, like blood gas syringes you've drawn from stopcock A-line port.
The reason is that the government really doesn't want to be separating
needles from syringes, since that's a major source of danger, and
there's no way to make sure you're complying if they give you an
exception for syringes which have never had needles.  It's also a handy
way for the disposal people to keep extra track of syringes, so they
don't wind up on a beach somewhere and scare the public.

   I don't know what will happen to this in the future.  If you've seen
the new Baxter system, you know that within 5 years it will be pretty
ucommon to see a needle used in medicine except the express purpose of
piercing the skin.  At that point, the syringe to needle ratio will go
way up, and they may change things so you can put syringes from
needless systems in other containers.

                                          Steve Harris, M.D.

From: sbharris@ix.netcom.com(Steven B. Harris)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: needle disposal
Date: 16 Mar 1999 03:14:58 GMT

In <19990315050741.23086.00000521@ngol08.aol.com>
shapere@aol.comicrelief (Shapere) writes:

>In article <7cgpqg$dob@dfw-ixnews11.ix.netcom.com>,
>sbharris@ix.netcom.com(Steven B. Harris) writes:
>
>>I don't know what will happen to this in the future.  If you've seen
>>the new Baxter system, you know that within 5 years it will be pretty
>>ucommon to see a needle used in medicine except the express purpose of
>>piercing the skin.
>
>I haven't heard of this - do tell?

    It's a needleless system.  If you want to plug one IV line into
another, you just plug a male cap into a female fitting, a bit like
those garden hose connectors.  And it seals when disconnected.



>The syringes I have used (I've been experimenting with a couple different
>types) have detachable needles that are easy to remove without poking
>oneself.

    No such thing.  If you've got a needle, there's a way to poke
yourself.  Somebody WILL poke themselves.


>(This is good since I have to squirt the stuff in my nose from the
>syringe!) I haven't actually drawn any blood with a needle (yet); the
>broken ampuls seem to be the dangerous part of the system. (Is there some
>special technique to getting those things open that I don't know about?)
>
>-elizabeth


   Other than wrapping them in a hankerchief, the only one I know of is
the old chemistry glass tubing break trick, which is to file a tiny
notch at the intended break point with a good sharp diamond triangular
file.  When you break, put pressure on the stem so that this part is
away from you (at the point with the stretching stress on bending).

From: sbharris@ix.netcom.com(Steven B. Harris)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: needle disposal
Date: 17 Mar 1999 07:31:45 GMT

In <19990316232627.14990.00000168@ngol02.aol.com>
shapere@aol.comicrelief (Shapere) writes:

>In article <7ckibi$3e1@sjx-ixn9.ix.netcom.com>, sbharris@ix.netcom.com(Steven
>B. Harris) writes:
>
>>>The syringes I have used (I've been experimenting with a couple
>>>different types) have detachable needles that are easy to remove
>>>without poking oneself.
>>
>>    No such thing.  If you've got a needle, there's a way to poke
>>yourself.  Somebody WILL poke themselves.
>
>I didn't say it's *impossible* to poke yourself, I said it is easy not to!
>
>-elizabeth


    It's easy not to with any needle.  You just have to know how to do
it.  Can you see how silly this discussion is?