Expired medical equipment.

[CallmeGoose]

As head medic onboard my ship, im responsible for keeping all the hospital's gear up to date. Uusally we replace stuff on a monthly basis, from IV drips, to cannulas to plasters, so a lot of the stuff simply gets chucked.

I have at home a pretty well stocked first aid kit - that contains the basics, but not I have access to all this out of date equipment im going to expand it some more ie.. airways tubes and the like. Although I cant use it ashore, it would come in handy in an emergency, sort of like a medical bug out bag if you like. ;-)

My question is with regards to the saline solution. Saline is just a salt solution so I cant see it degrading much. Most of our medical stuff has expiration dates, fuck even the stuff that isnt degradable has expiration dates on it. I believe this is that the manufacturer cant guarantee the sterility of the product after the date (not the actual expiration of the product), so most of the stuff is usuable for the rest of its life.

Would expired saline solution be safe? Would be good to have 1 or 2 IV bags in the kit. Any medical professionals clarify this for me?

[macmilm]

Not a medical pro but know one and in the past they told me that a lot of expiration dates on medical supplies is there simply to generate revenue as people throw things out and then buy more... Same applies to a lot of food we chuck out.... Off topic but I regularly eat red meat upto 5 days past its date and have never been ill !!!

Just me 2p.

[CallmeGoose]

seems to work. my company must spend thousands on medical supplies every month.

[Mule]

If you get in to a situation where you have to use one are you really going to be bothered by the expiration date?

[CallmeGoose]

i guess not. bring on the end of the world.... lol

[fanni]

Most of it is a load of bollocks we throw plasters and dressings away because they are out of date and as said it is just to create more revenue for manufacturers / suppliers

[stevo25]

I work in the nhs, and we add salt to the softeners to soften the water for dialysis and the salt has expiry dates on???

[maltloaf]

Why on earth would you want saline drips at home ? I understand on a ship where you might be 2 days from port but on the mainland, any trauma needing it, you would be in hospital anyway !

[4me2]

You could use it for detoxing ie anal flush.

[CallmeGoose]

well when i say emergency i really mean emergency. obviously i could just nip to the hospital if something were to happen, but fuck it, lets just say the world goes to shit, or something unforeseen disaster where stocks diminish. Plus...... its free, and would have been chucked anyway.