“The reality is that we are responsible for creating a culture of safety together for everybody in the clinical area. We have to think not only about ourselves and our personal risk, but how exposure to these hazardous drugs persists in the work environment for everybody. And we have to be part of the solution for everybody, even if it’s not something that we’re personally really worried about being exposed to,” AnnMarie Walton, PhD, MPH, RN, OCN®, CHES, FAAN, associate professor at Duke University School of Nursing in Durham, NC, told Lenise Taylor, MN, RN, AOCNS®, BMTCN®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, during a conversation about updates to the fourth edition of Safe Handling of Hazardous Drugs, one of ONS’s book publications.
Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0
Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by September 20, 2026. AnnMarie Walton serves in a compensated consultant role with Splashblocker LLC and as a compensated speaker for BD. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Learning outcome: Learner will report an increase in knowledge related to safe handling of hazardous drugs.
Episode Notes
Complete this evaluation for free NCPD. Oncology Nursing Podcast™ episodes: Episode 325: What Changed in the 2024 ASCO/ONS Antineoplastic Administration Safety Standards Episode 308: Hazardous Drugs and Hazardous Waste: Personal, Patient, and Environmental Safety ONS Voice articles: Hazardous Drug Surface Contamination Prevails, Despite More Diligent PPE Strategies to Promote Safe Medication Administration Practices ONS books: Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy Guidelines and Recommendations for Practice (second edition) Safe Handling of Hazardous Drugs (fourth edition) ONS courses: ONS/ONCC Chemotherapy Immunotherapy Certificate™ Safe Handling Basics Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing articles: Environmental Risk Factors: The Role of Oncology Nurses in Assessing and Reducing the Risk for Exposure Oral Chemotherapy: A Home Safety Educational Framework for Healthcare Providers, Patients, and Caregivers Oral Chemotherapy: An Evidence-Based Practice Change for Safe Handling of Patient Waste Personal Protective Equipment Use and Surface Contamination With Antineoplastic Drugs: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Oncology Nursing Forum articles: Factors Influencing Nurses’ Use of Hazardous Drug Safe Handling Precautions Randomized Controlled Trial of an Intervention to Improve Nurses’ Hazardous Drug Handling ONS Learning Library: Safe Handling of Hazardous Drugs Joint ONS and Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association position statement: Ensuring Healthcare Worker Safety When Handling Hazardous Drugs ONS Voice video: Hazardous Drug Surface Contamination—The Science Behind the Study To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.
To find resources for creating an Oncology Nursing Podcast™ Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.
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Highlights From This Episode
“We know that this book is used in practice sites across the country and increasingly around the world, and we have the privilege of answering lots of questions of ONS’s members routinely. And we’ve also been part of writing guidance documents for ONS. And so, we utilized, as well, some of those questions that have come to us, and we know what people want to know more about. So we’ve made sure that we’ve developed a book that would be the most helpful in clinical practice settings.” TS 2:42
“We ensured that