Janet Anderson Silvester - Comment

I am the Director of Pharmacy at a community hospital. As a result of the drug shortages we have had to consider delaying elective surgery. We have had to delay ECT treatments for psych patients. We have delayed chemotherapy due to a shortage of 5FU. Each time there is a new drug shortage we have to look for alternatives. All too often these alternatives are also unavailable. We are forced to use unfamiliar drugs or concentrations that significantly increase the risk of serious errors. we have to compound doses that were previously available as premix and this dangerously increases our IV room workload and introduces another opportunity for error. We cannot provide our patients with the standard of care that they deserve. We must find a solution to this problem before more patients are harmed. The costs for alternative drugs and for lost productivity are significant and we are often faced with paying rediculous prices in order to provide treatments for pur patients. This must be resolved somehow.