Effects of Educational Interventions to Improve Safe Hazardous Drug Handling among Oncology Nurses: Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Oncology nurses are in the front line of handling Hazardous Drugs (HDs) in healthcare settings.It is crucial to minimize the cytotoxic effects of handling HDs among oncology nursesby following the safety standards practices, protocols, and guidelines. The purpose of this systematicreview is to identify the effects of educational interventions to reduce exposure of hazardous drugs andchemicals among oncology nurses.Methods: The review was performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviewand Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. The search protocol was conducted using PubMed\MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Google Scholar, for studies published between the periods of 2013to 2021.Nine articles were included in the systematic reviewConclusion: Severalinterventions were identified including web-based online courses, educationalmodules, applied safety protocols, demonstration and re-demonstration, videos, PowerPointpresentations, seminars, and workshops. Following up nurses after applying different educationalinterventions showed enhanced adherence to safe handling of HDs. Applied educational interventionshave been reported to improve self-efficacy, nursing performance, attitude, knowledge, and practiceof cytotoxic drug handling. A better compliance was reported on nurses’use of standard personalprotective equipment, safety protocol during administration, handling of body fluids, and respondingto spills of HDs.