Drug shortage management becomes new normal for Pittsburgh-area hospital pharmacists
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Staying ahead of drug shortages is a constant battle for hospital pharmacists.
"We definitely feel that. Every year, there are more drug shortages to worry about," said Rebecca Taylor, vice president of UPMC pharmacy services.
New American Society of Health-System Pharmacists data shows 323 medications are in short supply across the country, the highest since tracking started in 2001.
"It primarily affects us in the drugs that are available as generics and the drugs that are available as IV. So, we do spend a considerable amount of time managing and changing and fixing things in our electronic system to help the doctors go to the drugs that we do have and shift them away from the drugs that we don't have," Taylor said.
Taylor said, unfortunately, the shortages have affected IV injectable drugs across the board.
"Periodically, there will be an issue with an IV chemotherapy drug. We've had issues with sedatives, pain medications, drugs for nausea and vomiting," she said.
While drug shortages are not a new issue, Taylor said a lot of the generic drugs are made overseas now, and if something happens at those factories, there aren't many backup plans.
UPMC pharmacists are trying to make sure you don't see that.
"Our goal is to make as minimal impact on the patient and the providers as possible. So, at any one time, one to three pharmacists are working on drug shortages," Taylor said.
"I do worry about patients in rural areas a little bit more because I think that there's less opportunity to source," she added.
The hope is that lawmakers who are aware of the challenges will help to implement changes.
"There's been a lot of recognition by our legislators in how big of an issue this is and trying to implement changes in drug pricing and notify us ahead of time. So, I would say that's probably our best path forward for change," Taylor said.
For now, coming up with a game plan every day is the new normal for them.
"We've become, honestly, pretty good at it. And again, our number one concern is keeping the patient as safe as we can," Taylor said.