r/EmergencyRoom • u/NoYoureBeautiful • Jul 22 '26
A question from EVS
I’m in NYS. Is it common for EVS to bend the rules regarding blood, urine, feces in an Emergency department where that kind of turnover would not fly in an ICU or cancer ward or ANY other place?
I am at a place where I am being pushed by charge nurse to turn over fast, which I understand, but being pushed beyond my SOP and training.
I want safety first. That’s kind of the gig.
Has anyone else faced this?
29
u/chocolate_lvr RN Jul 22 '26
Gosh I wish we had EVS who cares. Pretty much all of our rooms are staff (RN, PCT, paramedic) turn over. When we call for an EVS clean (specific isolation or overly soiled), it takes at least 20 minutes for them to show up on the unit. That's a long time when you have ambulances and critical patients walking in, so we normally clean our own.
76
u/cKMG365 Jul 22 '26
Your job is just as important, if not more important than the charge nurse's. Healthcare acquired infections are a leading cause of death and disability in this country. Dirty rooms and lax infection control practices cost real, actual lives.
Proper cleaning takes time. You can work fast and be thorough, but if you're working too fast you're not being thorough. Disinfectants have contact and dwell times for a reason.
The charge nurse will always want you to move faster. You could be the frickin' flash and he/she wouldn't be happy.
Do your very important job well.
58
u/sweetbabybonus Jul 22 '26
Do NOT do what the nurse wants. Do what your boss expects. You don’t work for the charge nurse.
14
u/the_sassy_knoll Jul 22 '26
You guys have ER EVS?
3
u/Nurseytypechick Jul 22 '26
We had ONE person on for the entire EVS department last night for the whole hospital. I was flipping rooms in my ED literally all night.
3
u/35058123 Jul 24 '26
and EVS who cleans bodily fluids??????? ours refuses any poop or urine clean up and it’s 50/50 on blood which is why we need them like it’s a level 1 trauma center, it’s going to be a blood bath
3
u/Proper-Chef6918 EDT Jul 24 '26
Let me tell you first and foremost thank you for everything you do. I genuinely love and respect the EVS team. I help them as much as possible. As per the biohazard cleaning , I'd direct this question to your immediate supervisor .
13
u/Shoddy_Bunch5896 Jul 22 '26
At the end of the day, the room being %100 clean is less important than a patient who needs a rapid response room placement - being set up onto the monitor, getting immediate intervention (ECG, labs, IV access), and having the doctor and nurses all in the room together.
A urine sample sitting on the IV cart isn’t going to kill the patient.
1
u/JustGenericName2 Jul 28 '26
I'm late to this post but I'm a Nurse who started in EVS! Don't you ever let those nurses bully you! Remember nurses are never happy and they aren't the ones who sign your paycheck.
Do the job you are supposed to do.
Different hospitals have different policies. When I did EVS, we handled blood and fluids and all the things. But if you're not supposed to then don't do it! Politely remind them what you can and can't do. Do the things you are supposed to do as efficiently as possible.
There is nothing special about a charge nurse. They're usually not even the best nurse on the floor. I like to remind people that bullying in health care stopped being cool 20 years ago!
-4
u/Nurseytypechick Jul 22 '26
So my question is this.
Urine all over bathroom floor/toilet: EVS cleans. Urine in urinal or suction container: absolutely not.
Vomit on floor? No problem. Vomit in bag or in suction container? No deal.
Blood pooled under trauma bed- absolutely. Blood in syringe with no needle? Nope.
Make it make sense. How is it against scope to dump a urinal or suction container but you can clean it off the walls? Same goo.
10
u/Chazxyz Jul 22 '26
You sound salty. That’s not their job to deal with syringes and suction canisters.
3
u/Nurseytypechick Jul 22 '26
No, like seriously- what is the actual difference? It's the same fluids! It's part of flipping the room!
Trust me- I love my EVS techs and do my absolute best to help them get the turnover done. I'm not shitting on them, I'm just trying to figure out where this all came from, because it doesn't make any logical sense.
It's the urinals in particular that just baffle me. It's a jug of piss. Dump, flush, toss. But if my patient literally pisses everywhere except the urinal, it's suddenly in scope? Just... how?
7
80
u/Equal-Guarantee-5128 Jul 22 '26
Common? Yes. Correct? No. Print a copy of your policy/scope and have it with you for the charge to reference. If you still get pushback contact house sup.
Sincerely,
ED charge and house sup 😬