Hospitals struggle with intravenous saline shortage (WHY are we having this shortage??)

Karen Weintraub, Special for USA TODAY 6:20 p.m. EST January 27, 2014

The shortage is apparently due to increased demand for IV fluids in the last month because of a worse-than-average flu season, plus production problems caused by factory shutdowns over the holidays.

Story Highlights

·         Bags of fluid that would normally cost $1-$1.25 are costing five or six times that

·         Most hospital patients are given IV saline at some point, so the shortage is wide-reaching

·         A worse-than-average flu season has increased demand for IV saline solution

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In one of the most far-reaching shortages ever to hit American hospitals, the saline IV bags that are a mainstay of surgical units and patient rooms everywhere are in short supply across the country, according to the Food and Drug Administration and hospital pharmacists.

Though patients probably haven't noticed the shortfall, pharmacists are scrambling to make sure they don't.

"It puts stress on the system," said Michelle Corrado, assistant director of pharmacy for Hallmark Health System, a regional provider of health care north of Boston, and president of the Massachusetts Society for Health System Pharmacists. "It pulls people's focus away from what they need to be doing."

Her hospitals have been able to make do by using intravenous solution bags of different sizes, Corrado said, and by scrambling to get supplies from other places.

Because of the shortage, bags of fluid that would normally cost $1-$1.25 are costing five or six times that, she said.

The shortage became evident around the end of the first week in January and appears to be improving now, said Dean Parry, director of clinical pharmacy programs for Geisinger Health System, the nation's largest rural health services organization, located in central and northeastern Pennsylvania.

Parry said staff at his system's seven hospitals are diluting some medications with different, non-saline solutions.

"From a pharmacy and nursing standpoint, clearly there's a significant amount of work put into it to make sure we don't run out and we manage the supplies we have in the most effective manner," he said.

Parry said at least 80% to 90% of all patients are given IV saline at some point during their hospital stay, making this shortage the most wide-reaching he's seen.

In an e-mailed statement, an FDA spokesman acknowledged the problem and said the agency is doing what it can.

"FDA is concerned about the seriousness of the shortage and working closely with manufacturers to ramp up supplies," said the FDA's Christopher Kelly. "We are also investigating foreign suppliers to help address the situation."

The shortage is apparently due to increased demand for intravenous fluids over the last month because of a worse-than-average flu season, in addition to production problems caused by planned factory shutdowns over the recent holidays.

There are three major suppliers of saline, the FDA said: Baxter Healthcare Corp., B. Braun Medical Inc., and Hospira Inc. Baxter did not return requests for comment Monday.

Parry and Corrado said shortages are becoming a way of life in their business.

"For sure every week there's a new shortage we have to deal with," Parry said. "I wouldn't say it's getting worse, but it's a real problem."