When Hurricane Helene struck in late September, it flooded the largest IV fluid factory in the United States. The Baxter International facility in western North Carolina had been producing 1.5 million IV bags a day, of the nation鈥檚 supply. The company immediately began rationing its products, and the shortage sent ripples through the health-care industry.
IV saline and fluids with carbohydrates are used regularly in hospitals and other clinical settings, both for hydration and to deliver medications. The shortage has left facilities scrambling to figure out the best use of the IV fluid bags they have.
But some hospital administrators see an opportunity in the IV fluid shortage to question standard practices. 鈥淭here has been increasing literature over the last 10 to 20 years that indicates maybe you don鈥檛 need to use as much,鈥� said Sam Elgawly, chief of resource stewardship at Inova, a health system in the D.C. area. 鈥淎nd this accelerated our sort of innovation and testing of that idea.鈥�
Elgawly said he鈥檚 keeping one question front of mind: 鈥淗ow often are we actually giving it more than we need to, where we just keep it going because a patient鈥檚 in the hospital?鈥�
He told 麻豆女优 Health News that across the system IV fluid usage has dropped 55 percent since early October.
Hospitals such as those in the Inova system are using different ways to conserve, including giving some medications intravenously but without a dedicated IV fluid bag, known as 鈥減ushing鈥� the medication.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 even need a bag at all. You just give the medication without the bag,鈥� he said.
Simpler conservation measures could become common after the shortage abates, said Vince Green, chief medical officer for Pipeline Health, a small hospital system in the Los Angeles area that serves mainly people on Medicare and Medicaid. Green said medical staffers are encouraging patients to drink Gatorade or water instead of defaulting to IVs for hydration.
And medical staff make sure to use up the entire bag before starting another.
鈥淚f they come in with IV fluids that the paramedics have started, let鈥檚 continue it. If it saves half a bag of fluids, so be it, but it adds up over time,鈥� Green said.
The North Carolina factory has reopened and is IV fluid products, but it鈥檚 not up to prehurricane production levels. Some hospital administrators are anticipating dealing with the shortage through the end of the year.
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