Chemotherapy Handling Concerns!
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This is a discussion on Chemotherapy Handling Concerns! in Oncology Nursing, part of Nursing Specialties ... Hello, I am new to oncology and have some concerns about how Chemotherapy is handled at my work....
by Daisy212 Jan 28, '12Hello,
I am new to oncology and have some concerns about how Chemotherapy is handled at my work. First, they use NO type of PPE when mixing, drawing up or hanging Chemo. Not even gloves. I asked about this when I first started working and they told me it was not necessary. ..
Also the room where the chemo is stored, mixed and thrown away is the same room where all the charting is done. Maybe its just me but sitting in a tiny room next to a open bin filled with hundreds of used Chemo vials doesn't seem safe.
I wonder if I should start looking for a New Job!
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Jan 29, '12 by ChrisNZI'm just a nursing student starting in a week and a halves time.
But I've spent my fare share of time up in oncology both inpatient and outpatient in New Zealand.
The whole thing sounds kind of dodge, when I was in outpatient oncology I could occassionally see through the nursing station window to chemical hazard room where fully decked out pharmacists (I'm pretty sure they were pharmacists) were head to toe covered making up the chemo orders.
I'm sure the nurses on this forum will have much better advice than myself.lindarn likes this. - Jan 29, '12 by Daisy212Thank you for your input. When I was in school I remember seeing the same thing. This is part of the reason why I know something is not right.
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Jan 29, '12 by sapphire18Is this a joke? I almost never handle chemo, but you need special chemo gloves, and it is disposed of in special containers in the dirty utility room. Chemo is ..obviously.. HIGHLY toxic. I think JCAHO needs to take a visit to that place. - Jan 29, '12 by Daisy212No joke! Although I wish it was. I should also mention that they EAT in the chemo/charting room!!!!!lindarn likes this.
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Jan 29, '12 by CapeCodMermaidI've never worked in oncology but I did have chemotherapy years ago. The nurses all wore industrial strength gloves...you know like Playtex Living Gloves...any time the handled the bag or tubing. One of them yelled across the room to her co-worker just before she stuck the needle in my vein "Don't touch that...it's POISON!!!" um....timing not so good... -
Jan 29, '12 by GrnTeasounds like time to call in the big guns. this is unsafe and not standard of care.
resources from the oncology nursing society on safe handling of chemotherapy agents,
http://www.ons.org/clinicalresources/safehandling
the links below are all live at the original, sorry they wouldn't all copy over here for me.
- safe handling of hazardous drugs, 2nd ed. (2011, m. polovich, ed.) provides the guidelines and techniques you need to safely handle these medications.
- safe handling of hazardous drugs online course using safe handling of hazardous drugs as the course text provides must know education to anyone working with these agents.
- chemotherapy and biotherapy guidelines and recommendations for practice (3rd ed.) (edited by m. polovich, j.m. whitford, & m. olsen, 2009) details principles of antineoplastic therapy, cancer therapy goals and response, administration, side effects, complications, and more.
- ons chemotherapy and biotherapy course is a live course held across the united states that provides a comprehensive overview of these agents and includes information on newly approved drugs.
- treatment basics: antineoplastic therapy in the non-oncology setting is a live course held by select ons chemotherapy and biotherapy course educators, which discusses the use of chemotherapy in settings outside of oncology.
resources available from sources outside of ons.
- american society of health-system pharmacists’ “ashp guidelines on handling hazardous drugs” (2006)
- national institute for occupational safety and health’s “preventing occupational exposure to antineoplastic and other hazardous drugs in healthcare settings (2004)
- osha technical manual chapter on controlling occupational exposure to hazardous drugs.
here are the niosh guidelines: niosh - preventing occupational exposure to antineoplastic and other hazardous drugs in health care settings - publication no. 2004-165 - recommendations
too long to all quote here, but "eat lunch in the same room as the used chemo agent vials" isn't in there. print them out and hand copies to your facility risk manager, clinical manager, and chief of staff, and make sure they all know that they all got it.apocatastasis likes this. -
Jan 29, '12 by apocatastasisYour co-workers ought to watch the interview with Sue Crump, a pharmacist who died a year or two ago after a battle with cancer, quite likely caused by her lack of protection for years while mixing chemotherapy.
You can watch it here: Video: Lifesaving Drugs - Deadly Consequences: Sue Crump, In Her Own Words | Watch KCTS 9 Connects Online | KCTS 9 Video .
One of the saddest things I've seen on the internet.
