Ideas That Work: Buckets, Not Bags

Rather than handing patients a single-use plastic bag to store their belongings, we now give them a reusable blue plastic storage bucket. We have plenty of the 2-feet wide by 4-inches high buckets, which our anesthesia providers use to hold their supplies. They're easy to wipe down and clean after use, and we can use them again and again and again — instead of throwing away thousands of plastic bags a year. As we did with plastic bags, we place the buckets of belongings under the stretcher so that it travels with the patient from pre-op to the OR and then to PACU.

Once patients reach recovery, we place the blue bin on the chair next to the bed so patients can change after they recover. Then, when the patient leaves, we wipe the buckets with a sanitizing cloth. Most patients only need a single bucket to hold their belongings, but we can place a second bucket underneath the stretcher if need be.

Mary McIntyre, RN, BSN, CRCST
Saddle River Valley Surgical Center
Ridgewood, N.J.
[email protected]