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Hospitals in U.S. experience shortage of critical opioid drugs, survey shows

cduggles

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Nov 12, 2016
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This article freaked me out. Ahhhhhh...

Hospitals in U.S. experience shortage of critical opioid drugs, survey shows

WEDNESDAY, May 2, 2018 -- U.S. hospitals are running short of the injectable opioids and anesthesia drugs that most surgery patients need during and after their procedures, a new survey shows.

More than 98 percent of anesthesiologists responding to the survey said they regularly experience shortages of these drugs.

And recent efforts by the federal government to curb the opioid crisis -- by cutting back on the raw materials used to make opioids -- may partly explain why.

Unfortunately, 95 percent of those surveyed said the shortages have affected the way they treat their patients.

The top five drugs in shortest supply are opioids like hydromorphone (Dilaudid), fentanyl and morphine, the local anesthetic bupivacaine, and the lifesaving allergy drug epinephrine, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) survey found.

"Physicians out there are frustrated because they want to do great work for people, and they are struggling with supplies," said ASA President Dr. James Grant.

Particularly troubling is the shortage of bupivacaine, which is most often used to ease pregnant women's pain during a C-section delivery without putting her to sleep, Grant noted.

"We have very little and we ration it," Grant said of bupivacaine. "That, frankly, is a first for us."

The shortages stem in part from manufacturing problems with a production facility in Kansas that the drug company Pfizer acquired when it purchased rival drug maker Hospira in 2015, Grant said.

"Pfizer bought the company and went in and found a number of quality production issues," Grant said. "Instead of closing the factory down in phases, to bring it up to standards, they shut the whole factory down at once."

Pfizer said in a November 2017 letter to customers that full production will not resume at the plant until early 2019.

Other drug companies have tried to fill the gap, but they have been hampered by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) efforts to reduce availability of prescription opioids by cutting back on the raw materials used for the painkillers.

The agency has recently reversed course, based on complaints that hospitals are running low on opioids necessary for pain management, said Arika Trim, associate director of media relations for the American Hospital Association.

"DEA recently granted some additional quota for raw materials to West-Ward Pharmaceuticals and Fresenius Kabi USA so that they can produce certain injectable opioid medications that are experiencing severe shortages," Trim said.

In the meantime, anesthesiologists say they are struggling to properly care for patients.

"I'm having to use much older drugs with more significant side effects that seriously impact efficiency, quality and patient satisfaction," one survey respondent said. "Patient safety is also at risk since many health care professionals have little to no experience dealing with these older drugs."

Workarounds include using oral opioids, but that is not ideal for patients undergoing surgery, another survey respondent explained.

"Oral treatments take far longer to work than IV treatment, so patients who have had major surgeries are suffering in pain due to lack of quick-acting medications," the anesthesiologist said.


"I have had patients ask me about the drug shortages, as they have been publicized in the news, and they fear surgery due to the impending pain they'll have postoperatively," the doctor continued. "So, imagine already fearing a surgical procedure that must be done as a lifesaving measure, but also fearing the probability that your pain won't be controlled afterwards."

Everyone's focus is now on getting through this crisis, but Grant hopes once it has passed some reforms will be instituted to prevent such shortages in the future.

These include getting generics on the market quicker, creating backup plans and tracking systems to detect and avert impending drug shortages, and making it easier for foreign drug companies to supply U.S. hospitals during critical shortages, Grant said.

"We've been finding ways of getting around it. Is it our first choice how we'd take care of people? Often not. We're doing what we can for patients," Grant said.

More information
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has more about drug shortages.
 
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I thought you could create tons of synthetics no problem, i.e. fentanyl, etc.

Doctors are under-utilizing/under-prescribing because they're afraid due to all the media hype about the "crisis". Worst fake news ever that's being pushed largely by conservative outlets, Trump and pals.
 
If i ever have to have surgery again, I'm bringing heroin to the hospital with me
 
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US Emergency Rooms Running out of Vital Drugs

CHICAGO ? George Vander Linde tapped a code into the emergency room?s automated medicine cabinet. A drawer slid open and he flipped the lid, but found nothing inside.
Mr. Vander Linde, a nurse, tried three other compartments that would normally contain vials of morphine or another painkiller, hydromorphone. Empty. Empty. Empty.
The staff was bracing for a busy weekend. Temperatures were forecast for the 90s and summer is a busy time for hospital emergency departments ? the time of year when injuries rise from bike accidents, car crashes, broken bottles and gunshots.
At Norwegian American Hospital and other emergency departments around the country, doctors and nurses have been struggling for months without crucial drugs like morphine, which is used to ease the pain of injuries like broken bones, or diltiazem, a heart drug. Norwegian has been out of morphine since March, and the shortages are part of a nagging problem that has intensified this year as a rash of decades-old staples became scarce.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/01/...column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
 
This is not fake news it?s very real I?m chronically sick and have seen these major shortages first hand hospitals are running severely low or even completely running out of certain IV opioids for me due to a gene defect that effects the way my body processes medication there?s a lot of drugs that either done work, don?t work like they should or build up in my system so pain control is a huge issues for me and I suffer from very severe chronic pain due to my illness and also I have to have a lot of surgeries and the only thing we?ve really found to help with my pain is IV dilaudid morphine and fentanyl don?t work and in March I had 2 major surgeries where they were unable to control the pain because the hospital did not have IV dilaudid and they could not get anymore due to the major shortages after the hell I went through after the first surgery with no pain control I was terrified of the second surgery I needed but I didn?t have a choice of not having it unless I wanted to die so I had the surgery and it was done in the evening because it wasn?t a planned surgery it was an emergency and the surgical team stayed past there shift to finish my surgery and then they selflessly chose to stay even later after my surgery so the anesthesiologist could admitster ketamine and other sedatives so they could control my pain for at least a little bit and those drugs had to be given by a anesthesiologist and both him and the anesthesia nurses had to be present. And I was actually recieving IV dilaudid outside of the hospital which should give you an idea of the severity of my situation and the severity of the pain I experience daily and due to the major shortages and the fact that hospitals get first priority in getting what little of the drugs are available I?m unable to get it and my pharamicist told me he?s even had hospice companies calling him asking if they had it available (they were calling all over the place looking for it)
So next time before you talk shit saying something is fake news and its all because of trump and the media do the research and learn the facts.
 
So next time before you talk shit saying something is fake news and its all because of trump and the media do the research and learn the facts.

I think you misunderstood Captain.Heroin. From what I understand, he was not claiming that the shortage of opioids in hospitals was "fake news," but was suggesting that the crisis of addiction to prescribed opioid medications has been overblown, leading to unfortunate consequences - like opioid shortages in hospitals.
 
I think every person who has not had their pain controlled properly should bring a lawsuit against the U.S Government for causing cruel and unusual treatment upon human beings.

This makes my blood boil!

And to hear an eye witness account right above my post too! I don't even have words for how sad and angry this makes me!

Can we go to veterinarian's for help then? Animals are treated much better than we humans who need pain medication.

I would prefer to be humanely euthanized than to endure what I am going through with chronic pain.
Can we have that set up then? WTF people??
 
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