Staff members' compliance with their facility's antineoplastic drug handling policy

This study examined use of protective garments and equipment by staff when handling antineoplastic drugs. Nurses, pharmacists, and physicians were compared on protection used, reasons for nonuse, compliance with policy, correspondence of staff beliefs about policy with actual policy, and the relationship between what protection staff believes is required and what protection is used. Pharmacists were the best protected group. There was little correspondence among staff beliefs about policy content and actual content. Beliefs about what protection was required had a stronger correlation with actual use than did policy content.