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Patients who go to the emergency room for dehydration or nausea are now half as likely to receive IV fluids as before Hurricane Helene worsened supply shortages. Analysis Health records by Truveta Research.
When hurricanes hit western North Carolina last month, flooding and other damage halted production. Baxter North Cove Manufacturing Facility. The site typically supplies about 60% of the IV fluids to hospitals across the US, and the outage has led to many innovations. Shortcomings. Some production at the plant has resumed this week, Baxter said Thursday, but it will be weeks before the items start shipping.
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention he said. Earlier this month, “supply disruptions can impact patient care and require adjustments in clinical management of patients. To reduce the impact on patients, federal agencies and professional organizations Recommended Health care providers develop strategies to conserve resources, including replacing oral rehydration agents such as Gatorade or Pedialyte whenever possible and continuous assessment of the clinical need for IV fluids.
The changes were seen in just over a week, Truveta's analysis suggests.
The team analyzed nearly 350,000 emergency room visits for patients ages 12 and older between Jan. 1 and Oct. 13.
It found that an average of 6.6% of patients admitted to the emergency room with dehydration were given saline fluids through an IV in the months before Hurricane Helena. But 10 days after the hurricane made landfall, the cost of IV administration dropped to 2.5% for these patients. Similarly, the rate of IV fluid administration for those who received nausea or vomiting decreased from an average of 5.5% to 2%. These trends were consistent across age groups.
IV fluids are used for many medical purposes. Some, like dehydration, can be helped with alternative methods. But they cannot perform other surgeries like organ transplants.
“Replacing oral options for patients is one of the many conservation strategies being pulled to ensure these critical supplies are available to those who need them most,” said Dr. Chris Derienso, MD, chief medical officer of the Graduate School of Medicine. American Hospital Association.
“These conservation efforts are making a big difference in helping us get the access we need to patients who have no other options,” he said. We try to cover 60% of the hole, so every patch we put on this embroidery is important.
Other efforts are also building momentum across the supply chain. On Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the extension of expiration dates for several products manufactured before the storm. The agency has allowed temporary imports from some facilities outside the U.S. to help address the shortage, and other U.S. manufacturers — B. Brown Medical and ICU Medical — have ramped up production to help fill the gaps.
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But getting the supply chain back to full capacity will take time. The first IV fluids began arriving in the country on flights about a week ago, but there is “some time” before suppliers begin receiving new shipments, Baxter said in a statement.
“We are carefully monitoring both pre-finished goods coming out of North Cove and products coming into the US,” the company said.
Baxter announced On Thursday, it began production of some products at its plant in western North Carolina, which focuses on the production of products most commonly used by hospitals and clinics. The open manufacturing line typically accounts for about a quarter of the site's total production and about half of a liter of IV solutions. However, Baxter said the supplement won't reach suppliers for another few weeks. First deliveries are likely to begin in late November.
“Progress at the Baxter North Cove facility continues to be encouraging,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement Thursday.
“The output from the restarted line, which will be closely monitored to ensure the quality and safety of the released product, will increase the amount of imported product under the temporary regulatory flexibility granted by the FDA,” he said. “While important steps remain to ensure the safety of this product, this latest development allows us to take another step toward ensuring partners and patients have access to the quality supply they need.”
In the meantime, many hospitals are still using command centers to make real-time decisions about supply.
“We've seen optimism in increasing supply, but you can't plan based on optimism,” Derienso said. “So until you start seeing the increased allocation consistently showing up on your loading dock, it's going to be difficult to plan beyond the timeframe that the command center can help you manage.”
And danger looms during the respiratory virus season. People with severe respiratory problems are among the most intolerant of oral medications.
“As the effort to repair the supply chain continues, there's a real risk that we're running out of time for viruses that are beyond our control,” Darien said.
But patients shouldn't worry that their weight will be disrupted, he says, “We're in the middle of some conservation efforts that will have a significant impact on utilization, but it's all about making sure we have the work.” [IV fluids] For patients when they need it.”