Hazardous Drugs During Administration
Workers can be exposed to hazardous drugs during administration; therefore, personnel should wear gowns, latex gloves, and chemical splash goggles or equivalent safety glasses.
When administering aerosolized drugs, additional precautions may be necessary to protect employees from exposure such as:
- wearing NIOSH-approved respirators
- using treatment booths with local exhaust ventilation systems, or isolation rooms with separate HEPA filtered ventilation systems
The American Society of Hospital Pharmacists (ASHP) recommends these guidelines when administering hazardous drugs:
- Only those trained to administer hazardous drugs should be allowed to perform this function.
- Disposable gloves and gowns should be worn. The glove and gown cuffs should be worn in a manner that produces a tight fit (e.g., loose glove tucked under gown cuff; tight glove fitted over gown cuff).
- Intravenous containers designed with venting tubes should not be used.
- The use of plastic backed absorbent liners under IV tubing during administration of hazardous drugs to absorb any leakage and prevent the solution from spilling onto patient skin.
- Work at waist level, if possible; avoid working above the head or reaching up for connections or ports.
- Until the reproductive risks associated with handling hazardous drugs have been substantiated, staff who are pregnant or breastfeeding should avoid contact with these drugs.
Only those trained to administer hazardous drugs should be allowed to administer them.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
2-12. When administering hazardous drugs, work at _____ level.
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