American Nurses Association

Rights of Registered Nurses Handling Hazardous Drugs 1 2 WHEREAS: 3 4 There is significant evidence indicating that hazardous drug handlers are exposed to 5 hazardous drugs in their daily work routine; and 6 7 There is over 20 years of documented research showing that this exposure has led to 8 compromised health outcomes by nurses who handle these drugs, their fetuses and 9 potentially by their breast-feeding infants as well as by other health care workers and 10 bystanders; and 11 12 There are interventions that can mitigate this exposure based on the occupational 13 hierarchy of controls and medical surveillance; and 14 15 A facility’s organizational factors, such as safety climate, have been shown to increase 16 compliance of health care workers to safety precautions; 17 18 THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the American Nurses Association will: 19 20 Support the right of nurses to practice in organizations that provide medical surveillance 21 modeled on the NIOSH recommendations for medical surveillance for hazardous drug 22 handlers; and 23 24