A new study released by NIOSH found that healthcare workers who routinely come in contact with hazardous chemicals lack the training and awareness necessary to effectively protect themselves from exposure.
In 2011, more than 12,000 healthcare workers participated in a web-based study administered by NIOSH, which indicated that there is an overall lack of awareness of employer procedures and information available on safe handling practices associated with use of hazardous chemicals.
This study is the first of a series of reports, which describes current practices used by healthcare workers to minimize chemical exposures as well as challenges associated with using recommended personal protective equipment. The agents NIOSH studied were antineoplastic agents, high level disinfectants, aerosolized medications, anesthetic gases, surgical smoke and chemical sterilants.
Study findings include:
- Workers administering aerosolized antibiotics were the least likely to have received training on their safe use (48 percent reported they were never trained), followed closely by those exposed to surgical smoke.
- Workers most likely to have received training were those who administered antineoplastic drugs (95 percent) and those who used hydrogen peroxide gas plasma as a chemical sterilant (92 percent).
- For those exposed to surgical smoke, 40 percent did not know if their employers had safe-handling procedures. For those exposed to anesthetic gases, 25 percent did not know.
- Those who administered antineoplastic drugs were least likely to report that they did not know whether their employer had procedures for minimizing employees' exposure (3 percent).
- Chemical-specific training and awareness of employer safe-handling procedures varied by employer work setting (ambulatory health care services versus hospital).
According to NIOSH, the findings from this study will to help the agency and other stakeholders better understand current health and safety practices related to working with hazardous chemical agents, identify knowledge gaps and design further research to bridge those gaps. The study results are published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.