Researchers Offer Strategies for Overcoming Drug Shortages

In Low Supply
Mazer-Amirshahi M, Pourmand A, Singer S, et al. Critical drug shortages: Implications for emergency medicine. Acad Emerg Med. 2014;21(6):704—711.

The highly publicized United States drug shortage has left ED and ambulance services alike scrambling to find alternatives. Here, researchers from Washington, D.C., take an in-depth look at the problem and review the complications that may develop.

While not research in the same sense as we traditionally review, the authors, including a pharmacist and members of adult and pediatric emergency medicine departments, did their due diligence in researching the impact of drug shortages. The problems they found seem staggering in size, but are they things we can avoid in EMS?

Results: The authors point toward several reasons for the drug deficits: Increased demand when related to the supply, such as with chemotherapy drugs and oseltamivir (Tamiflu) during flu season; contamination in sterile products; and the cost associated with creating generic medications that aren’t as expensive to purchase.

From their research, the authors found cases of increased medication errors during drug shortages in which a replacement is easily available, such as when ketamine is available in place of etomidate. They also point to a delay in administration of medications given when the provider’s comfort level with the available medication may be low, requiring providers to consult references or colleagues. In the EMS setting, this could lead to a delay in rapid sequence intubation, in large part due to a change in induction or paralytic agents.

Researchers also found cases of accidental overdose by hospital staff when a drug is available but in a different concentration.

Let’s say this happened to your supply of opiates or sedatives. How would you react? Sure, we have narcan and supplemental oxygen to remedy the problem, but is this something you want to explain to the hospital or your medical director?

Thanks to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Safety and Innovation Act, the FDA will now receive advanced notification of drug shortages for “medically important drugs.” This same legislation requires yearly reports to Congress on drug shortages and allows flexibility for hospitals repackaging drugs that are undergoing a shortage.

Discussion: Although drug shortages are problematic for hospitals nationwide, we also understand this could affect EMS even more. All agencies–small and large, municipal and private–stand to lose medications and tighten belts as costs rise.

But this research also points to an alarming possibility: medication errors. We get it–mistakes happen from time to time. But lacking an understanding of the medications you carry, be it a new concentration or a new medication, is inexcusable. We need to stop forgiving cavalier behavior.

The time has come to stop changing protocols and start changing the way we think. Medications should be checked for changes in concentration at the beginning of each shift, and working knowledge of the substituted medications should be ensured by the medical director and management staff.

Drug shortages will never go away, and healthcare will change, grow and adapt to face them. We should lead by example, and create a safe, healthy work practice for ourselves and our patients.