Hospitals across the United States are proactively conserving IV fluid supplies in the wake of Hurricane Helene’s closure of a vital manufacturing facility.
Health systems are changing their tactics in anticipation of impending shortages to guarantee that patient care is unaffected.
Hurricane Helene damage has temporarily closed one of the country’s major producers of IV fluids, and hospitals from coast to coast were in disarray today over the possibility of a national shortage.
Baxter International, which accounts for 60% of the IV fluid market in the United States, was forced to close its North Cove facility in North Carolina after it was flooded by Hurricane Helene.
IV fluids are so important in patients who are operated on or cannot take fluids by mouth because they will be used in administering medication and in maintaining hydration for a patient.
As a result of the closing of its facilities, Baxter is making hospitals currently careful with their supplies. Some, for instance, only get 40 percent of their usual IV fluid supply, such as those at Boston’s Mass General Brigham.
Hospitals are implementing conservation efforts to cope up with the shortage. For minor cases, it is providing patients with Gatorade or ordinary water.
While health care systems are carefully monitoring the situation, a weeks-long shortage is expected, thereby compelling hospitals to seek alternative sources and methods.
Thus, despite all odds, healthcare providers still provide necessary medications, such as IV fluids, that a patient may need.
On the other hand, the shortages indicate how fragile the supply chain may be, in part because one event-whether it is a storm-would easily upset the delicate balance of essential medical supplies.
