Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Towards Safe Antineoplastic Drug Handling: A Cross Sectional Pilot Study Among Nurses in a Teaching Hospital

Objectives Antineoplastic drugs (ANPDs) play a vital role in cancer treatment. However, their hazardous properties, such as mutagenicity, teratogenicity, and carcinogenicity, pose significant occupational health risks to healthcare workers, particularly nurses. Prolonged exposure to these agents can lead to severe health consequences. Despite the establishment of guidelines and growing awareness about the importance of ANPDs and safe handling practices, studies reveal gaps in compliance among nurses that are attributed to insufficient training, workload pressures, and resource limitations. This study aims to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of nurses in Klang Valley, Malaysia, on the safe handling of ANPDs. Material and Methods A cross-sectional pilot study was conducted on 30 oncology, haematology, and medical nurses at Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz (HCTM). The participants were randomly selected, and data were collected using a validated, 33-item questionnaire previously tested with Cronbach’s alpha reliability score of 0.7. Results The study found that nurses with post-basic certification and formal training in ANPD handling had significantly better knowledge (M = 55.11, SD = 7.66) compared to those without training (M = 43.83, SD = 10.62). Additionally, 66.7% of the nurses scored above the average mean in knowledge (56.50±6.19), while 70% scored above the mean in both attitude (32.95±2.22) and practice (51.29±4.94), suggesting a positive correlation between experience, training, and safe handling practices. Conclusion The findings highlight that nurses have a strong understanding of the safe handling of ANPDs; however, there is a need to implement more training programs to improve safety further and ensure consistent adherence to recommended guidelines.