Renuka Kadian, Sukhwinder Kaur, Amita Trehan, Sandhya Ghai
ABSTRACT:
Introduction- Across the globe, cancer is leading cause of death among adults as well as children. Cancer in children is rare but heavy burden in the category of dangerous diseases. Emergence of chemotherapeutic drugs has immensely benetted to the current prognosis of childhood cancers but unintentional exposure to these harmful agents may endanger the life of health care workers who repeatedly gets exposed to these cytotoxic drugs. Nurses need to think, act and approach with more specicity and should comply on set standards while handling these cytotoxic agents. Objectives- 1) To identify barriers and facilitators for preparation and administration of chemotherapeutic drugs by nursing staff 2) To seek the suggestions of nursing staff to improve current practices. Methodology- Focus Group Discussions were conducted with nurses handling chemotherapeutic drugs. Total 8 FGDs were conducted with the nurses and each group comprised of 3-4 nurses. Results- It was found that there were various barriers and facilitators related to preparation and administration of chemotherapeutic drugs by the nurses. There was lack of uniformity among the nurses while practicing the procedures, non-existence of standard operational protocols and non-availability of supplies. Various themes and sub themes were generated after the group discussions and some of the suggested facilitators include: availability of written standard protocols and educating the nurses regarding the standard procedures with the help of posters, lectures and demonstrations. Conclusion- This study concluded that all the nurse managers and supervisors need to increase efforts to promote more standardized practices of chemotherapeutic drug preparation and administration so that unnecessary exposure to hazardous drugs can be minimized.