Oncology Nursing Society Position. Ensuring Healthcare Worker Safety When Handling Hazardous Drugs.

Hazardous drugs (HDs) are chemicals that demonstrate one or more of the following characteristics: carcinogenicity, genotoxicity, teratogenicity, reproductive toxicity, or organ toxicity. In addition, newer drugs with a structural or toxicity profile that mimics an agent known to be hazardous by one of the aforementioned criteria also should be treated as such (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health [NIOSH], 2014). Healthcare workers (HCWs) potentially are exposed to HDs in the workplace during drug preparation, administration, and disposal, and when handling patients’ excreta following treatment with these drugs. More than 100 studies since 1994 have documented evidence of contamination of the work environment with HDs, which increases the potential for exposure of nurses, pharmacists, and other HCWs when these agents are handled without appropriate precautions.