This January, we made a big leap forward in nurse safety when Washington became the first state in the country to adopt specific safety rules regarding workers who may be exposed to hazardous medications in the workplace.
Nurses, doctors, pharmacists and home health workers will all benefit from the new safety regulations passed by Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries. “Hazardous drugs control programs” will be mandatory for all facilities with employees reasonably expected to be exposed to the hazardous materials.
National Federation of Nurses and its member, the Washington State Nurses Association, work every day to achieve better health and safety protocols for nurses in Washington and across the country.
“We applaud Washington for its leadership on this important issue and urge every state to adopt similar legislation,” said NFN president Barbara Crane, RN. “As we work to reform our nation’s health care system so that it can meet the needs of our growing and aging population, nurse will play a more critical role than ever. It’s essential that nurses feel safe on the job and are afforded common sense protections so that we can deliver the best possible care to our patients.”
The safety regulations will mandate policies and procedures for the safe handling of the drugs by healthcare workers. Biological safety cabinets, chemotherapy gloves and fume hoods are just a few of the many protective resources now available to nurses and other healthcare providers.
The CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) defines over 150 chemical agents as being potentially harmful for occupational exposure, including chemotherapeutic drugs such ascisplatin, methotrexate, etoposide, and dacarbazine–materials the NIOSH estimates around 5.5 million healthcare workers are potentially exposed to in their line of work.
As chemo drugs have been used to combat a wider range of diseases, such as arthritis or multiple sclerosis, they have also been subject to laxer handling methods.
“More people will be required to prepare and deliver their treatment,” wrote Carol Smith, who first reported on this issue in 2010. “And more of those people will likely be in non-hospital settings such as outpatient clinics, or private homes.”
The new regulations will ensure that everyone–doctor or vet, physician assistant or home health care worker–will be given the resources necessary to protect them from hazardous materials in their line of work.
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