Abstract

Background: The antineoplastic drugs used in cancer treatment directly have adverse effects on health of both patients receiving the treatment and oncology nurses preparing and administering the treatment. The purpose of this study is to determine the working conditions of the oncology nurses in terms of employee safety as well as their knowledge levels regarding the safe use of antineoplastic drugs.
Methods: This is a qualitative study conducted with 25 oncology nurses in a phenomenological design. The data obtained were analysed by using the content analysis.
Results: The results of the study were gathered under 3 main themes; employee safety (sub themes-safe use of the antineoplastic drugs, health problems, health checks, waste management), working conditions (sub themes-working and resting hours,salary) and training (sub themes-orientation, chemotherapy preparation certificate, continuous training).
Conclusion: As happens all over the world, there have also been policies and standards regarding the safe use of antineoplastic drugs in Turkey; however, it is found that they remain insufficient to put into practice.