Hon Chun-Yip, Teschke Kay, Shen Hui
a School of Occupational and Public Health, Ryerson University , Toronto , Ontario , Canada.
J Occup Environ Hyg. 2015;12(10):669-77. doi: 10.1080/15459624.2015.1029618.
Although nurses are knowledgeable regarding the risk of exposure to antineoplastic drugs, they often do not adhere with safe work practices. However, the knowledge, perceptions, and behavior of other health care job categories at risk of exposure has yet to be determined. This study aimed to survey a range of health care workers from British Columbia, Canada about their knowledge, perceptions, and behaviors regarding antineoplastic drugs. A self-administered questionnaire was sent to participants querying the degree of contact with antineoplastics, knowledge of risks associated with antineoplastics, perceptions of personal risk, previous training with respect to antineoplastics, and safe work practices. Subjects were recruited from health care facilities in and around Vancouver. Fisher's exact tests were performed to ascertain whether there were differences in responses between job categories. We received responses from 120 participants representing seven different job categories. Pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and nurses were more knowledgeable regarding risks than other job categories examined (statistically significant difference). Although 80% of respondents were not afraid of working with or near antineoplastics, there were concerns about the suitability of current control measures and practices employed by co-workers. Only half of respondents felt confident that they could handle all situations where there was a potential for exposure. Only one of the perception questions, self-perceived risk of exposure to antineoplastic drugs, differed significantly between job categories. Not all respondents always wore gloves when directly handling antineoplastic drugs. Further, hand hygiene was not regularly practiced after glove usage or after being in an area where antineoplastic drugs are handled. The majority of responses to questions related to safe work practices differed significantly between job categories. Our results suggest that knowledge regarding risks associated with antineoplastic drugs can be improved, especially among job categories that are not tasked with drug preparation or drug administration. There is also a gap between knowledge and compliance with glove usage and hand hygiene.Training is also recommended to improve health care workers' perceptions of the risks associated with antineoplastic drugs.
尽管护士了解接触抗肿瘤药物的风险，但他们往往不遵守安全工作规范。然而，其他有接触风险的医疗工作类别人员的知识、认知和行为尚未得到确定。本研究旨在对加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省的一系列医护人员进行调查，了解他们对抗肿瘤药物的知识、认知和行为。向参与者发送了一份自填式问卷，询问与抗肿瘤药物的接触程度、与抗肿瘤药物相关风险的知识、个人风险认知、以前接受的抗肿瘤药物培训以及安全工作规范。研究对象从温哥华及其周边的医疗机构招募。进行了费舍尔精确检验，以确定不同工作类别之间的回答是否存在差异。我们收到了代表七个不同工作类别的120名参与者的回复。药剂师、药房技术员和护士比其他接受调查的工作类别更了解风险（具有统计学显著差异）。尽管80%的受访者不害怕使用或靠近抗肿瘤药物工作，但他们对同事目前采用的控制措施和规范的适用性感到担忧。只有一半的受访者有信心应对所有可能接触的情况。在不同工作类别之间，只有一个认知问题，即自我感知的接触抗肿瘤药物的风险，存在显著差异。并非所有受访者在直接处理抗肿瘤药物时都始终戴手套。此外，在使用手套后或在处理抗肿瘤药物的区域后，手部卫生并未得到定期执行。与安全工作规范相关问题的大多数回答在不同工作类别之间存在显著差异。我们的结果表明，与抗肿瘤药物相关风险的知识可以得到改善，尤其是在那些没有药物配制或给药任务的工作类别中。在手套使用和手部卫生的知识与合规之间也存在差距。还建议进行培训，以提高医护人员对抗肿瘤药物相关风险的认知。
