From: David Collette
To: Amanda W. Williams, Patrick Newman, Emma Strickland, Brittney Shippee, Patrick Thornton , April Williams, Jonathan Spry, Amanda Ouzts, Adam Sawyer, Sara Jones, Nellie McKee, Jeremy Ray, Sharon Baty, Richard Cramer, Gregg Knowles, Jerry Robinson, Mary Dang, Michele Durda, Jonathan Edwards, Mickala Thompson, Katie Vandiver, Christopher Strickland
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2017 10:24:38 AM
Subject: update on IV

We are facing an unprecedented shortages of many IVPBs and large-volume parenterals; it is expected that this shortage will continue to worsen as conditions in Puerto Rico are only slowly improving. We are in the process of looking at which drugs can be given via syringe, whether slow IV push or via a syringe pump. As you can see, either of these processes have potential problems, whether it is increased nursing time giving slow IV pushes or the potential lack of syringe pumps to deliver all these doses.

Also, if large-volume IVs continue to go short, that may also necessitate that some drugs that were previously supplied as IV drips be supplied in syringes. This could be very problematic for drugs that are being titrated...

Berkley Stewart and Chris Pamperin are closely monitoring our supply of IV bags and have developed a strategy for syringing once our supply drops below an acceptable level. If asked for input regarding drug delivery for patients in your area, please help them in any way you can. Once a plan is settled on, we will work with nursing leadership and nursing education to disseminate the plan and instructions.

DAVID
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David R. Collette, Pharm.D., FASHP
Operations Manager, Professional Services Huntsville Hospital Department of Pharmacy