Marie-Alex Marchal, Marie Robert, Raphaëlle Pesqué, Nathalie Jourdan, Paul Sessink, Isabelle Madelaine, Helene Levert. Residual chemotherapy drugs after flushing infusion lines. J Onco Pharm Practice 2023. DOI: 10.1177/10781552231175820.
Source:https://doi.org/10.1177/10781552231175820
The guidance, issued by the European Commission with the involvement of many stakeholders in the healthcare sector, provides an overview of existing good practice and practical advice aiming at reducing workers’ exposure to hazardous medicinal products.
Stakeholders in the healthcare sector have often stressed the need to better protect staff exposed to hazardous medicinal products.
These products are used to treat a wide range of medical conditions, including cancer, but can cause unintended effects in people other than patients themselves, such as the workers exposed to them.
To address stakeholders’ concerns, the Commission has put forward a concrete action in the EU strategic framework on health and safety at work 2021-2027 - the preparation of a guidance for safe management of hazardous medicinal products.
The new guide was developed to provide practical examples for reducing the workers’ exposure to hazardous medicinal products across all lifecycle stages: production, transport and storage, preparation, administration to human patients and animal patients as well as waste management.
The guidance offers a broad range of practical advice presented in a simple and reader-friendly way by using graphics, photos and special training documents.
It is a non-binding document for workers, employers, public authorities and safety experts to underpin their approaches to workers’ protection from hazardous medicinal products.
The Commission involved many stakeholders in the drafting process. Numerous workshops, personal meetings and on-site visits in different Member States took place to obtain stakeholders’ views and feedback.
This way the Commission’s services could benefit from their expertise and in-depth knowledge.
For more details, please consult:
https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&newsId=10564&furtherNews=yes&
In 2017 the 1st Cytotoxic Exposure Management Conference was held at The Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital, London. Over the subsequent years new research studies have been undertaken, and there have been recently published guidance such as the ISOPP Standards for the Safe Handling of Cytotoxics (2022), the ETUI List of Hazardous Medicinal Products (2022) and most recently, the EU Commission's Guidance for the Safe Handling of Hazardous Medicinal Products published on 28th April 2023. It was therefore well overdue that a second International conference on the important topic of occupational health & safety when working with hazardous drugs and materials, took place.
The conference Hazardous Drugs: Best Practice for Nurses and Healthcare Institutions was held at Wellcome Collection, London on April 21st 2023, attended by Clinical Governance Directors, Cancer Services Directors. Lead Cancer Nurses, Pharmacists and healthcare policy makers from across the EU and the UK and was supported by exhibiting companies at the forefront of healthcare hazardous drug safety. The film of the day's event will be available at www.safercancercare.com
The expert speakers were:
Chair - Paul Sessink, Exposure Control, Sweden
Paul Sessink
Paul is an internationally renowned researcher & co-author of 40 scientific publications regarding environmental and biological monitoring of occupational exposure to hazardous drugs.
Seth Eisenberg, Oncology Nursing Lecturer, USA
Seth has been practicing as an Oncology Certified nurse since 1983. He has spent the last 25 years promoting hazardous drug safety as an international lecturer, nurse researcher, and author of several articles and book chapters, including the Oncology Nursing Society's Safe Handling of Hazardous Drugs. Seth presented ‘Nursing & Hazardous Drug Safety: A U.S. perspective on implementing mandatory guidance for safe oncology nursing.’
Ian Lindsley, Secretary of the European Biosafety Network
Ian is Secretary of the European Biosafety Network and co-author of the ETUI (European Trade Union Institute) List of Hazardous Medicinal Products 2022, which is the only list utilising the 2022 EU definition of HMPs and is also included in the 2023 EU guidelines. Ian presented ‘Background to the issue of occupational exposure to hazardous medicinal products (HMPs), recent legislative, other requirements, measures to prevent exposure of healthcare workers and the ETUI list of HMPs’.
Karen Campbell, is an Associate Professor at Edinburgh Napier University
Karen is Head of Learning and Teaching in the School of Health and Social care. She has led programmes of cancer research and currently UKONS grant research on the ‘perceptions and experiences of exposure to cytotoxic chemotherapy’ an overview of which she presented at conference.
Elisa Mills, National Quality Lead, Cancer Services Nuffield Health Group, UK
Elisa is the National Lead for Cancer Services at Nuffield Health, managing best practice, quality, safety and cancer strategy for the organisation. Elisa is a registered nurse since 2004 working within cancer services both for NHS and independent sector providers.
Anki Delin Eriksson, Quality & Safety Improvement Lead, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Sweden
Anki is a specialist nurse with a master’s degree in oncology care. She works with quality and safety development within the Department of Oncology at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg. She is a leading figure within the Regional Cancer Centres in Sweden, where she focuses on education in safety handling of hazardous drugs. Anki presented ‘The Swedish National Working Group training, challenges, and success factors for safer hazardous drug administration.’
In 2024, the third conference will be held in Europe with date and venue to be confirmed.
Twitter: @SaferCancerCare
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hazardous-drugs-best-practice-nursing-conference-london-656281263/
Web: www.safecancercare.com
Paul Sessink will present a lecture as part of the Simplivia Satellite Symposium entitled:
Environmental monitoring of contamination with hazardous drugs
Thursday 23 March 2023
12.00 - 13.30
Auditorium III + IV
Pesqué R, Peyrilles E, Jourdan N, Albert O, Sessink P, Madelaine I, Levert H. Safe disconnection of 5-fluorouracil elastomeric pumps: The benefit of a closed-system-transfer device designed for cytotoxic drug administration/perfusion. J Vascular Acces 2021. DOI: 10.1177/11297298211044017.
Final report of the
Study supporting the assessment of different options concerning the protection of workers from exposure to hazardous medicinal products, including cytotoxic medicinal products
was published March 2021
Levin G, Sessink PJM. Validation of chemotherapy drug vapor containment of an air cleaning closed-system drug transfer device. J Oncol Pharm Practice 2021. DOI: 10.1177/10781552211030682.
Tom Marler-Hausen, Christ Holt, Christine Headley and Paul Sessink.
Br J Nurs 2020;29(10):S15-S21.
Open access article. Free downloadable via https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2020.29.10.S15
Visit Exposure Control in booth nr. 606 during the exhibition hours.
You will get a demo how to apply our self service Cyto Wipe Kit for Surface Monitoring of Hazardous Drugs and AB Wipe Kit for Surface Monitoring of Antibiotics.
We will present our Traffic Light Model for Risk Assessment.
You will get a SPECIAL QUOTATION for using our Kits and Services.
Do not hesitate to visit us !!
Monday, December 9 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
Tuesday, December 10 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
Wednesday, December 11 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
Paul Sessink will present a lecture entitled:
Safe administration of 5-fluorouracil with elastomeric pumps
Saturday 28 September 2019
11.15 - 11.30
Oviedo Auditorium (CC5)
Nicolas Simon, pharmacist at CHU Lille in France, Jerry Siegel, pharmacist at Safe Medication Management Associates Inc. USA, and Paul Sessink, managing director at Exposure Control Sweden will present lectures concerning
Finding the Invisible Threat: Monitoring for HD Surface Contamination
This Satellite Symposium is sponsored by Becton Dickinson.
Industry Sponsored Satellites
Friday 11 October 2019
12.30 - 14.00
Birgit Tans, pharmacist at UZ Leuven in Belgium, and Paul Sessink managing director at Exposure Control Sweden, will present a lecture entitled:
Hazardous Drug Safety - An update on Guidelines, CSTD compliance test & what to consider with a CSTD
This educational seminar is sponsored by ICU Medical, Inc.
Industry Sponsored Satellites
Thursday 28 March 2019
8:45 am - 10:15 am
Room 111
https://svenskfarmaci.se/arbetsliv/hon-ar-arets-arbetsmiljohjalte/
https://www.sverigesfarmaceuter.se/Aktuellt/nyheter-och-nyhetsbrev/Nyhetsarkiv/nyheter-2018/rojin-soderlund-pa-karolinska-i-huddinge-ar-arets-arbetsmiljohjalte/
https://www.tv-helse.se/visslaren-rojin-soderlund-far-utmarkelsen-arets-arbetsmiljohjalte/
Paul J.M. Sessink, Tibor Nyulasi, Emmie L.M. Haraldsson and Branislava Rebic.
Reduction of contamination with antibiotics on surfaces and in environmental air in three European hospitals following implementation of a closed-system drug transfer device.
Annals of Work Exposures and health 2019. DOI: 10.1093/annweh/wxz010
Paul Sessink.
Biomonitoring great, but do it the right way!
J Oncol Pharm Practice 2019;25(1):246-247. Letter to the Editor.
Peter J Gilbar, Carole R Chambers, Johan Vandenbroucke, Paul JM Sessink, Timothy G Tyler
How can the use of closed system transfer devices to facilitate sharing of drug vials be optimized to achieve maximum cost savings?
J Oncol Pharm Practice 2019,25(1):205-209.
Studies, Research, Long Term Health Risks and the Future
presentation Paul Sessink at the Royal Marsdens Hospital in London UK
11 September 2017
Wouter Willaert, Paul Sessink, Wim Ceelen.
Occupational safety of pressurized intraperitonel aerosol chemotherapy (PIPAC)
Pleura and Peritoneum, January 2017 DOI:10.1515/pp-2017-0018
