[Measures of preventing occupational exposure to hazardous drugs-based on new insights]

Little attention has been paid to the hazards that healthcare professionals may be exposed to when administering drugs to patients. Hazardous drugs, even in very low concentrations, can produce adverse reactions in patients and in healthcare professionals who handle the drugs or work in the vicinity. Small amounts of hazardous drugs have been detected in the urine of healthcare professionals who prepare or administer these drugs even with the use of safety protection. Moreover, environmental contamination of hazardous drugs has been reported in a survey of patient care surroundings even when handling guidelines have been followed. The academic subcommittee of the Japanese Society of Hospital Pharmacy has established guidelines for the handling of hazardous drugs; however, reports suggest that there are problems with compliance to the guidelines. Recently, closed system devices have been marketed for use in healthcare settings to reduce environmental contamination during drug preparation. However, these devices have not gained widespread use because of their high cost and incompatibility with certain products like ampules. In addition, it is not clear whether the hazardous drugs are deactivated by these devices. In an effort to prevent healthcare professionals from being exposed to hazardous drugs, it is important to clean up contaminated surfaces and also to prevent dangerous drugs from spreading.