Hazardous drugs are highly lethal.
But in the healthcare sectors, it is used extensively in the manufacture of important medicines.
These medicines when used to treat patients can be very effective.
Exposures to hazardous drugs on the other hand can be very dangerous.
The healthcare workers engaged in different drug related activities are more prone towards the harmful effects of perilous drugs.
Pharmaceutical engineers are focusing more on finding the alternative to these harmful drugs.
Finding the alternative to these drugs is a cumbersome job.
Hence, pharmaceutical engineers have developed a number of safety equipments and measures that can fight with these perilous drugs.
The hazardous drugs contain noxious agents that can become a savior for the patients as well as take lives when exposed.
Exposures to these noxious agents can cause both short term as well as long term health hazards.
Some of the short term effects include skin and eye irritation, hair loss, dizziness etc and the long term effects caused by these agents include respiratory and reproductive disorders, cell degeneration, chromosomal aberrations, and congenital malformations, loss of eyesight, spontaneous abortions, infertility, leukemia and cancer.
Both the short term and long term effects can be very fatal.
Healthcare organizations have put forward a number of safety guidelines that are very effective and can fight with the disastrous effects of these harmful drugs.
These guidelines stress on the use of safety equipments like personal protective equipments, biological safety cabinets, closed system drug transfer devices that are very useful.
The personal protective equipments include powder-free gloves, disposable gowns, masks, respirators etc.
Strict adherence to these guidelines can minimize the risks of exposures to harmful drugs.