Approved Hospital Formulary
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Approved Hospital Formulary
1/7/22 dh Sterile Water for Injection Shortage
January 10, 2022
From: "Donna Huggins" <donna.huggins@hhsys.org>
To: "Pharmacy Department" <grp_pharmacy@hhsys.org>
Sent: Friday, January 7, 2022 10:35:18 AM
Subject: Sterile Water for Injection shortage
We are still experiencing a shortage of both normal saline vials and sterile water for injection vials used by nursing for reconstitution. Some nursing units are starting to exhaust their supply of SWFI and are using NS as their sole diluent. We have identified a few drugs that are incompatible with NS and must use SWFI only. PharmIT has added a CDC in Pyxis to alert nursing at the time of removal. This information has also been communicated to nurse educators.
The drugs tagged with this alert are:
ziprasidone (GEODON)
olanzapine (ZYPREXA)
alteplase (CATHFLO)
acetazolamide (DIAMOX)
We have spot checked a few nursing units and found that some do still have sterile water available.
We are planning to assess if some of the sterile water stock can be moved from unit to unit so that all have product to use. We are uncertain of how long the remaining supply will last.
In the event that more nursing units exhaust their supply and there is not adequate supply to redistribute, pharmacy will have a small reserve supply of SWFI that we can send to a nurse for a patient specific need. They can call if they need a vial (58282 - Central Pharmacy).
Thank you,