Traveling with Sharps This Holiday Season? Here is What You Need to Know
Traveling with sharps and other medical necessities doesn’t have to be stressful during the holidays. Share these tips with your clients for easily transporting medications and sharps.
For the many Americans who must self-administer medicines using sharps for conditions such as diabetes, infertility, allergies – and other reasons, there’s never a truly opportune time for travel. Especially if it means having to bring your medical equipment out with you on the road.
Heading out with your necessities doesn’t have to be stressful. With some pre-planning and insights you can ensure you’re getting the accurate dosages you need without putting the public or yourself at risk of harm.
Here are some tips to ease your holiday travel plans and ensure your sharps are used and tossed safely and in compliance with the laws for the duration of your trip.
Pack wisely.
First things first: It’s important when you travel that sharps are safely stored and disposed of. Since you’ll be out of your typical at-home routine, some preparations should be made to understand the rules in the state or country you’re visiting so that you can purchase in advance and carry with you anything needed to follow the rules.
Understand the rules for travel.
Whether you’ll be commuting with public transportation, taking a road trip or boarding an airline this holiday, it’s important to understand the sharps rules before you get there. TSA regulations state that unused syringes are allowed when accompanied with the injectable medication. You must also tell security officers at the inspection checkpoint about the sharps and medication. Read up on how to transport your meds in compliance whichever way you plan to get to your destination.
Take responsibility for disposal.
If you want peace of mind while traveling with sharps and medications this holiday, take responsibility for the transport and disposal into your own hands. Always keep the items in a carry-on in case your luggage is lost, the medication and sharps will not be. Also, in the case that there are no acceptable containers available, you should always carry an FDA-approved sharps container with you. Once you’re home you can dispose of the waste as you usually do.
At Red Bags we care about your well-being and the safety of the public. If you have any questions on sharps disposal rules or want to discuss a pick-up schedule for your facility, give us a call today!
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