Local hospitals have been experiencing shortages of some medications for months, which managers say is a result of production issues combined with limitations from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency brought on by the opioid crisis.
Due to the shortage, hospitals across the nation are negotiating shortages of injectable opioids, most commonly morphine and hydromorphone, and using alternative treatments for patients’ pain.
“I would be surprised to find any hospital that’s not affected by the opioid shortages,” said Kim Tate, clinical manager of the pharmacy at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette.
The American Society of Anesthesiologists conducted an informal survey of its members in April and found that more than 98 percent of respondents are regularly experiencing drug shortages where they work and more than 95 percent said the shortages impact how they treat patients.
According to Tate, Good Samaritan bounces between running low on morphine and Dilaudid, a brand of hydromorphone. It also ran short on fentanyl for a short period of time, but that has not been as much of a challenge.
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