title: Hazards in determining whether a drug is hazardous.
abstract: The US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health list and evaluation criteria have provided an important foundation to help institutions identify and create a list of hazardous formulary drugs. However, further guiding principles were needed to make the adoption feasible at our organization. First, we developed separate directives for determining the inherent hazardous toxicity of a drug and for the requirements for safe handling based on dosage forms (exposure risks) of these drugs. Secondly, we created a systematic approach in determining the scope of the drugs reviewed by US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Thirdly, we streamlined our review process by defining which drugs needed to be evaluated by our organization. Finally, we considered the pros and cons of creating a tiered system for classifying hazardous drugs beyond those recommended by US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
authors: BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors: Nadine
authors: N
authors: Badry
authors: BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors: Joan
authors: J
authors: Fabbro
authors: BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada mdelemos@bccancer.bc.ca.
authors: Mario L
authors: ML
authors: de Lemos
mesh_terms: D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D016272:Occupational Health; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D015386:Hazardous Substances
keywords: Hazardous substances; consensus; hospital; occupational exposure; personnel; pharmaceutical preparations