Quality Assurance in Safe Handling of Hazardous Drugs Among Healthcare Workers in KSA: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Healthcare providers are potentially at risk from occupational exposure to drugs. Safe handling accreditation criteria from international occupational safety organizations and associations minimize long-term medication exposure harm. The purpose of this review was to examine healthcare workers' quality assurance in the safe handling of hazardous drugs. This topic underwent a scoping review of the literature to determine what was known about exposure and to spot any knowledge gaps using a variety of electronic databases such as Medline, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for the literature search. English-language articles that were published between 1997 and 2022 were included. This review included 26 full-text papers in total. The designs, sample sizes, sample collection durations, and medicines studied differed between the investigations. Numerous studies discovered that at least one sample had measurable quantities of a hazardous substance. The studies examined that hazardous drugs are handled in many different stages throughout the healthcare industry, including production, transportation, storage, preparation for patients, and waste disposal after treatment. Healthcare personnel are constantly exposed to HDs. The findings emphasize the need to establish robust regulations, boost training programs, upgrade personal protective equipment, enhance handling techniques, and strengthen monitoring and surveillance systems. More research is required to fill up the gaps and safeguard the safety and health of Saudi Arabia's healthcare professionals who handle hazardous medications.