{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Episode 349: ONS 50th Anniversary: Evolution of Safe Handling and ONS\u2019s Legacy in Developing Safe Handling Guidelines","description":"\u201cWhat I find most rewarding is connecting with nurses, who now understand the risks of exposure and are committed to minimizing their personal exposure. When I first started speaking about safe handling, there were a lot of nurses who were skeptical about the need for self-protection. I rarely see that now. Nurses are concerned for their own safety and more open to protective behaviors,\u201d ONS member Martha Polovich, PhD, RN, AOCN\u00ae-Emeritus, adjunct professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Maryland, told Liz Rodriguez, DNP, RN, OCN\u00ae, CENP, ONS member and 50th anniversary committee member, during a conversation about the evolution of safe handling of hazardous drugs and ONS\u2019s role in shaping safe handling policies. Music Credit: \u201cFireflies and Stardust\u201d by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0  The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center\u2019s Commission on Accreditation. Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to the evolution of safe handling guidelines. Episode Notes  The NCPD activity for this episode has expired, but you can still earn NCPD through many other ONS Podcast episodes. Find a full list of opportunities.  ONS Podcast\u2122 episodes: Episode 330: Stay Up to Date on Safe Handling of Hazardous Drugs Episode 308: Hazardous Drugs and Hazardous Waste: Personal, Patient, and Environmental Safety ONS 50th Anniversary series ONS Voice articles: Hazardous Drug Surface Contamination Prevails, Despite More Diligent PPE NIOSH Releases Its 2024 List of Hazardous Drugs USP <800> Answers Some Difficult Questions About Hazardous Drug Safety ONS books: Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy Guidelines and Recommendations for Practice (second edition) Safe Handling of Hazardous Drugs (fourth edition) ONS courses: ONS Fundamentals of Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy Administration\u2122 ONS\/ONCC Chemotherapy Immunotherapy Certificate\u2122 Safe Handling Basics Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing articles: Hazardous Drug Contamination: Presence of Bathroom Contamination in an Ambulatory Cancer Center Oral Chemotherapy: An Evidence-Based Practice Change for Safe Handling of Patient Waste Huddle Card: Introduction to Safe Handling ONS Safe Handling Learning Library Joint ONS and Hematology\/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) position statement: Ensuring Healthcare Worker Safety When Handling Hazardous Drugs National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health: Managing Hazardous Drug Exposures: Information for Healthcare Settings American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Guidelines on Handling Hazardous Drugs USP <800> FAQs Connie Henke Yarbro Oncology Nursing History Center To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.  To find resources for creating an ONS Podcast Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library. To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email pubONSVoice@ons.org. Highlights From This Episode \u201cPPE has always been recommended to reduce exposure because gloves and gowns provide physical barrier to protect against dermal absorption. But what we didn\u2019t know back then was what gloves and gowns were made of mattered. So PVC gloves were often used just because they were readily available in all our clinical settings. Gowns were rarely worn for drug administration, even though they had been recommended since early on, and many considered gowns back then as optional because the wording in the [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] guidelines said \u2018recommended\u2019 and not \u2018required.\u2019\u201d TS 3:19 \u201cThose early chemo gloves were a bit like wearing gloves you might use to clean your oven. They were so thick and got in the way of taking care of patients or mixing drugs or administering drugs. So the biggest change, I think, is that gloves that are currently available are very thin, and they provide the necessary protection for those who are handling hazardous drugs. We now have a gloves standard that requires permeation studies to demonstrate the protective ability of the gloves before they can be labeled for use with hazardous drugs.\u201d TS 11:56 \u201cONS and HOPA developed a position statement on safe handling of hazardous drugs. \u2026 This came because our two organizations were unable to support some of the other proposed guidelines from another organization. So we got together, and through our cooperation, resulted in language about the importance of safe handling, about supporting safe handling for practitioners, pharmacists, and nurses. Also, I feel really good about this\u2014our cooperation resulted in language about protecting the rights of staff who are trying to conceive or who are pregnant or who are breastfeeding to engage in alternative duty that doesn\u2019t require them to handle hazardous drugs.\u201d TS 17:12 \u201cIf there\u2019s no worker safety, then who\u2019s going to take care of the patients?\u201d TS 21:52 \u201cWhat I find most rewarding is connecting with nurses, who now understand the risks of exposure and are committed to minimizing their personal exposure. When I first started speaking about safe handling, and that\u2019s going back a long way, there were a lot of nurses who were skeptical about the need for self-protection. They had been handling hazardous drugs for years and had no signs of ill effects, and so they assumed that we weren't overreacting with all of the recommendations. They saw the use of precautions and PPE as a speed bump in their busy day and also thought that was unnecessary. I rarely see that now. Nurses are concerned for their own safety and more open to protective behaviors.\u201d TS 23:50 ","author_name":"The ONS Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/onsvoice.libsyn.com\/website","html":"