House, Scrubs, and sharps containers
I spent a fair amount of time over the holidays watching the continuing TV adventures of my favorite misanthrope, Dr. Gregory House.
One of the curious things that I’ve noticed (which is clearly a manifestation of my own obsessive compulsive disorder, as well as my consultative nature) is that the sharps disposal containers located in each of the care environments represented in the various episodes of House appear to be mounted at an aperture height of about 72 inches.
And lo and behold, I “bumped” into an episode of Scrubs and the sharps containers appear to be mounted at the same height (unless it’s an optical illusion and everyone on each of the shows is really tiny).
Which makes me wonder–could they produce the risk assessment indicating that particular mounting height is appropriate? The Joint Commission talks of such a risk assessment in one of its official FAQs. Remember, the FAQs hold the same weight as the standards themselves.
About the Author: Steve MacArthur is a consultant for The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro. He brings 30 years of healthcare management and consulting experience to his work with hospitals, physician offices, and ambulatory care facilities across the country. He is the author of HCPro's Hospital Safety Director's Handbook and is contributing editor for Briefings on Hospital Safety. Contact Steve at 
