Help Shape the Future of Veterinary Education
|Articles|February 1, 2013

Idea Exchange: Fashion trash to keep patients clean

Try this tip to keep patients clean during activated charcoal administration.

Giving charcoal to patients is messy, so we place protective trash bag coats on these animals. We simply cut a hole the size of the patient's head in the bottom of a trash bag. Then we carefully place the bag over the animal, draping it like a poncho. The patient's head is exposed, but everything else is protected. We remove the bag when we're finished administering the charcoal.

Kristina Nigro, veterinary assistant

Agata Witelus, veterinary assistant

Hamden, Conn.


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