Introduction:

Cytostatic drugs are mainly used to treat neoplastic diseases, and it has been shown that nurses remain susceptible to these drugs. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to analyze the most current evidence in relation to the knowledge of nursing staff regarding the exposure and manipulation of cytostatics.

Method:

Systematic review through bibliographic search in databases Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), SCOPUS, MedLine / PubMed, Cochrane, Google Scholar, with free and controlled language (MeSH terms) using the Boolean operators AND and OR . The search was limited to articles published between 2016-2023.

Results:

7 articles selected for this bibliographic review were analyzed based on their relevance, of which they showed that the transversal descriptive study was identified as the main type of study. The study topic represents the factors associated with the knowledge, attitudes and protective equipment of oncology nursing staff.

Conclusions:

The findings of this review reflect the need for continuous and periodic updating of knowledge about chemotherapy and its administration guidelines. It is necessary to improve nurses’ knowledge for the management and preparation of cytostatic medications.