I am working with a team in our hospital system to develop a plan on how we will implement the USP 800 requirements. I appreciate many of the helpful comments and suggestions that were given previously regarding  medical surveillance. A few questions have arisen on how we will deal with the following:

 

Is surveillance screening done on only the healthcare providers working with ONLY chemotherapy drugs versus all hazardous drugs?

 

How are the effects of handling hazardous drugs communicated to the healthcare workers?  For example, what measures can be adopted to prevent reproductive health hazards in healthcare workers (male and female) that handle hazardous drugs e.g. chemotherapy, other drugs like Pitocin, etc?  It’s a NIOSH Group 3 drug.

 

We have surveillance for those who work with chemotherapy drugs but what about the other long list of hazardous drugs  ie Pitocin. Should pregnant nurses on the OB service not administer the drug? Or if they do how are they monitored?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

 

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Blythe Allen-Hardy, MD, FACOEM

Medical Director, Employee Health

Texas Medical Center

6411 Fannin, JB500
Houston, Texas, 77030

W: 713-704-2792

C: 720-840-9593

F: 713-704-6350

Blythe.allen-hardy@memorialhermann.org