Richard Niel Maosn - Comment

Sentara is a 10 hospital heath system. Drug shortages have impacted Sentara and its patients. There has been a significant increase in time needed to address drug shortages and the shortages have impacted the safety of our patients. An example of the impact on patient safety is the current injectable benzodiazepam shortage. The shortage is so severe that alternatives to the use of benzodiazepeines for the treatment of seizures and sedation now have to be considered. The alternatives are not well know by staff and could result in patient harm. The benzodiazepam shortage not only impacts the hospital but the ambulance crews that serve Hampton Roads. If the hospitals do not have injectable benzodiazepams they can not put it in the drug boxes the crews use. The ambulance crews might also have to work with drugs they are not familiar with. The shortages are adding to the cost of health care. In the last 10 years my time spent on shortages has gone from a few hours a month to 2 days a week. Multiply that cost across the system and they price is significant.