Assessing Etoposide and Cyclophosphamide Contamination and Current Cleaning Practices in Patient Bathrooms.

BACKGROUND

Antineoplastic drug (AD) exposure presents severe risks to healthcare workers. Previous studies have demonstrated that patient bathrooms are highly contaminated and have led to concern for excreta as a source of environmental contamination with ADs.

OBJECTIVES

This study assessed AD contamination and current cleaning practices to remove AD surface contamination in patient bathrooms.

METHODS

Three surfaces in the bathrooms of patients who had received etoposide and/or cyclophosphamide were sampled and analyzed for contamination at three time points. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was used for analysis. Interviews and observations of daily and discharge cleaning were conducted to understand cleaning practices.

FINDINGS: A significant reduction in etoposide contamination on toilets and floors was observed following discharge cleaning; however, no significant reduction was observed on walls for either AD or on floors for cyclophosphamide.