According to a recent study by Vizient, they estimated that drug shortages are costing facilities at least $359 million per year in labor costs for implementing mitigation strategies to improve patient care. The top five drug categories with drug shortages found to have the most impact on hospitals were controlled substances, local anesthetics, crash cart drugs, antibiotics, and electrolytes. Unfortunately, 38% of hospitals reported one or more drug shortage-related medication errors. In this session we’ll examine the variety of different reasons, including manufacturing and quality issues, delays, and discontinuations and discuss how to evaluate and lessen the impacts of drug shortages.

Learning Objectives:

1. Examine the underlying reasons drug shortages occur.

2. Question how your IDN can lessen the impact of shortages.

3. Specify how your IDN can improve patient care by lessening the impact of drug shortages.