Knowledge of safe handling, administration, and waste management of chemotherapeutic drugs among oncology nurses working at Khartoum Oncology Hospital, Sudan

Abdelgayoom Alhag Warsha Sargidy; Amira Yahia; Mehrunnisha Ahmad; Adel Abdalla; Suhail Naser Khalil; Sharifa Alasiry; Mohammad Abu Shaphe; Shabir Ahmad Mir; Faizan Z Kashoo

doi:10.7717/peerj.14173

Knowledge of safe handling, administration, and waste management of chemotherapeutic drugs among oncology nurses working at Khartoum Oncology Hospital, Sudan

PeerJ. 2022 Oct 21:10:e14173. doi: 10.7717/peerj.14173. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Emergency Department, Erada and Mental Health Complex, Taif, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Nursing, Khartoom Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan.
³ Department of Nursing, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Majmaah University, Majmaah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Nursing Science Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Shaqra University, Shaqra, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Nursing Department, Sinnar University, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Sinnar city, Sudan.
⁶ Department of Physical Therapy, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Majmaah University, Majmaah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Physical Therapy and Health Rehabilitation, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Majmaah University, Majmaah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Introduction: Knowledge of chemotherapeutic drug (CD) handling, administration, and waste disposal are important among nurses involved in cancer therapy. Inadequate knowledge of the management of CD could cause environmental contamination and potential harm to patients and nurses. To assess the knowledge of safe handling, administration, and waste management of CD among oncology nurses working at Khartoum Oncology Hospital, Sudan.

Methods: A questionnaire was developed by a team of experts to assess the knowledge in three domains of oncology nursing practice (handling, administration, and disposal). The study involved 78 oncology nurses working in Khartoum Oncology Hospital in Sudan from April 2020.

Results: The mean CD knowledge score of nurses was 12.7 ± 3.9 out of 26 items in the questionnaire. For each domain, their knowledge showed poor scores related to safe handling (mean = 2.0 ± 1.5 out of eight knowledge items) and good scores for administration (mean = 6.2 ± 1.7 out of 10) and poor scores for waste disposal (mean = 4.4 ± 1.5 out of eight). Simple linear regression indicated that education level (β = 3.715, p = .008) and training (β = 0.969, p = .004) significantly predicted knowledge among nurses.

Conclusion: There is a significant need to enhance the knowledge and safe handling skills of CD among oncology nurses in Sudan. Implementation of strict guidelines to manage cytotoxic waste to reduce health risks and hospital contamination.

Keywords: Cancer therapy; Chemotherapy; Drug adminstration; Knowledge; Nursing; Oncology; Safe handling.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Antineoplastic Agents* / adverse effects
Hospitals
Humans
Nurses*
Sudan
Waste Management*

Substances

Antineoplastic Agents

Grants and funding

The authors were supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Majmaah University under project number: R-2022-286. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.