Standards of Practice
The ISOPP Standards of Practice provide evidence-based guidance on the safe handling and management of cytotoxic and other hazardous drugs in oncology pharmacy, and represent an international consensus on best practice.
The current standards are available in English and Japanese.
The ISOPP standards can be used benchmark to evaluate the quality of services and patient care. An audit tool based on the original 2007 version of the standards is available to ISOPP members. Please note that this Standards of Practice Audit Tool is available for the personal use of ISOPP members only.
To become a member and view the ISOPP Standards of Practice, visit the membership page. You can also see an excerpt from ISOPP's Standards of Practice below.
ISOPP are pleased to announce that the standards will undergo another review and update in 2025, and a Standards Task Force has been set up to complete this work.
Further resources are available below.
2007
Graham Sewell, ISOPP President in 2006, officially launched the original Oncology Pharmacy Standards of Practice during the ISOPP Symposium in Kuala Lumpur. This go to guide for oncology pharmacy practitioners globally was the result of an exceptional amount of work by the Standards Committee at that time.
2022
16 years later, at the close of his presidency, ISOPP Past President, Shaun O’Connor announced the publication of the revised Standards of Practice on March 31, 2022. The hard work and dedication of Shaun and his fellow Standards Review Task Force Co-chairs, Shaun, Alexandre Chan and Kimberley-Ann Kerr, along with all the Task Force members, is to be commended and is very much appreciated by all. Without the work that each of them contributed, these standards would not stand as a keystone document in ISOPP’s mission to advance oncology pharmacy care for patients around the world.
4.1 Education on cytotoxic risks and safe handling
All staff who handle cytotoxic drugs must be provided with sufficient education and training applicable to their role, regarding the risks and safe handling of these drugs. This includes pharmacy, nursing, and medical staff, as well as support staff who transport cytotoxic drugs or clean possibly contaminated areas, where available, specific courses should be attended.
Patients and caregivers involved in the administration of chemotherapy in the home should receive basic education and training on safe handling, dealing with spills, waste disposal, and management of patients’ excreta. Written instructions should be provided (see Section 18).
Click below resource to access the Japanese translation of the ISOPP Standards of Practice: Japanese translation of the ISOPP Standards.
The Japan Clinical Oncology and Pharmacology Society (JASPO) has translated the ISOPP Standards of Practice from English to Japanese, expanding its reach to over 5,000 oncology pharmacy practitioners in Japan.
In July 2022, Evelyn Handel (United States), President of the International Society of Oncology Pharmacy Practitioners ("ISOPP") (as of 2022) and Naoki Kondo, President of the Japanese Society of Clinical Oncology Pharmacy ("JASPO") (as of 2022) signed a "Memorandum of Understanding to translate ISOPP Standards 2022".
A Translation Task Force was formed and the translation is now complete.
Click below to access the Japanese translation of the ISOPP Standards of Practice: Japanese translation of the ISOPP Standards.
Thank you to the ISOPP Standards Translation Task Force members:
- Hisanaga Nomura
- Koji Hashiguchi
- Maho Miyazawa
- Masahiro Ishimaru
- Masato Komuro
- Nobuyuki Mamiya
- Tomoko Morita
- Toshiaki Nakayama
- Yuka Mori
- Yukio Sakata
We are grateful to Hisanaga Nomura, former ISOPP Secretariat member, for organizing funding and translation, making the information even more accessible.
“We hope that this translation effort will not only be disseminated in Japan, but also that other countries where the measure of occupational exposure is not widely disseminated will do the same and translate them into their local languages, thereby improving the work environment for pharmacists worldwide”.
Contact services@isopp.org if you would like to do the same for another language of your choosing.
Please note that the Standards of Practice Audit Tool is available for ISOPP members only. To become a member, visit the membership page.