I wanted to find out how the drug shortage will be affecting us as nurses...
First of all it is obviously affecting our patients, "Papa reported that emergency nurses have seen patients suffer needlessly and experience adverse events when substitute medications were not as effective or because, in some cases, no substitutes exist." http://www.nursezone.com/Nursing-News-Events/more-features/Drug-Shortages-Affecting-Nurses-and-Patients_38484.aspx
This is what we need to be aware of, pain and altered discomfort is one of our major nursing priorities and we need to know our other options so we can make sure our patient 's pain is adequately managed.
This article reports that the drug shortage actually sets the nurse up for medication errors...when you do not have the right dose or you are giving a patient something they are not use to having can cause several problems.
Katie,
ReplyDeleteI am glad you addressed the impact of the drug shortage on nurses and their practice. Medications errors are always of a great concern because of the potential for injury or even death to patients.
Sue
I think it was a great idea to look at this from the nursing standpoint because drug shortages will affect us and the way we practice. Not only will it concern our patients and the drugs they receive, but it can also increase the risk of side effects and medication errors, as you stated. Many drugs that are in shortage are sterile drugs that are in shortage due to manufacturing errors, and these drugs are not easily replaced, if they can be substituted at all. As nurses, we may have to use non-pharmacological methods to assist our patients. We may have to get creative and collaborate more with other members of the healthcare team like physicians and pharmacists to find alternatives. An article published in the November issue of The American Journal of Nursing reports that 35% of hospitals reported that shortages in drugs resulted in adverse outcomes. We, as nurses, are the people administering the medications, and then monitoring patients for these adverse reactions. Therefore, we need to be able to recognize the adverse reactions and act quickly to help out patients.
ReplyDeletehttp://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/Fulltext/2011/11000/Drug_Shortage_Crisis_Affects_Patients_and_Nurses.9.aspx