As a physician in a solo office....I note everything that takes place, from patient care, to IT, to lab, to housekeeping...etc...and tonight I noted the housekeeper preparing to take our red blood borne pathogen container to the disposal area. I asked to have a look inside. I noted well over 100 "single use" vacutainers inside. I decided to "study" the situation....so I took the container home to my shop, used a pliers to remove each unit, one at a time, and removed each screw in needle. I threw the needles all back into the red container....and the clear, clean, single use plastic vacutainer holders into another trash container. INTERESTINGLY....the ONCE FULL TO THE BRIM blood borne container was about 1/8 full !!! What a waste of container space.... What an excessive cost to our medical trash removal... I know the answer from OSAH....and the regulators of medical / lab practices....BUT I would like to know if there are "multiple use holder devices". I hate wasteful habits, as when thousands are being wasteful, it adds up.
Are there multiple use vacutainer holders devices that can be reused? These containers DO NOT GET TOUCHED BY BLOOD PRODUCT. They merely hold the needles and blood tubes.