Drug Shortages in Hospitals (Speech)
Informative Speech: Drug Shortages in Hospitals
Paul Davis, the chief of an ambulance squad in Vernon, Ohio, was down to his last vial of morphine early September when a woman with a broken leg needed to get to the hospital. The ride was 30 minutes, and she was in obvious pain. But because of a recent countrywide shortage of drugs, his morphine supply had quickly dropped from four to one, leaving him with a dilemma. Should he treat the woman now or should he save it for a patient who might need it more later on?
For many physicians in the United States, drug shortages are a problem they deal with daily that force them to make hard decisions regarding their patients. They have taken an oath, and they work as hard as possible to uphold it, but when dealing with an unavailability of necessary drugs, they are helpless. Today we will look at the causes for the
Lack of drugs, the effects on patient care and safety, and the difficulties hospitals face because of this.
The drug shortage has been attributed to production blackouts, caused by problems in manufacturing and deficits of raw ingredients. The Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA, has accredited the drug shortage to the fact that companies have stopped production due to low profits. There are no rules that entail drug companies to notify the FDA before ceasing drug production. Therefore, hospitals don’t have the time they need to find new drug providers. As a result, hospitals throughout the country end up having to deal with drug deficiencies, ultimately affecting the patient’s health and well-being, the very main concern of a hospital and its staff.
The nationwide drug shortage has the greatest effect on the patients, who are affected both physically and emotionally. Cancer patients, including children, are not getting the drugs they need. According to Julie Golembiewski, doctor of Pharmacy, in the Journal of Peri-Anesthesia Nursing, chemotherapy drugs are the scarcest, among others, such as
Paul Davis, the chief of an ambulance squad in Vernon, Ohio, was down to his last vial of morphine early September when a woman with a broken leg needed to get to the hospital. The ride was 30 minutes, and she was in obvious pain. But because of a recent countrywide shortage of drugs, his morphine supply had quickly dropped from four to one, leaving him with a dilemma. Should he treat the woman now or should he save it for a patient who might need it more later on?
For many physicians in the United States, drug shortages are a problem they deal with daily that force them to make hard decisions regarding their patients. They have taken an oath, and they work as hard as possible to uphold it, but when dealing with an unavailability of necessary drugs, they are helpless. Today we will look at the causes for the
Lack of drugs, the effects on patient care and safety, and the difficulties hospitals face because of this.
The drug shortage has been attributed to production blackouts, caused by problems in manufacturing and deficits of raw ingredients. The Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA, has accredited the drug shortage to the fact that companies have stopped production due to low profits. There are no rules that entail drug companies to notify the FDA before ceasing drug production. Therefore, hospitals don’t have the time they need to find new drug providers. As a result, hospitals throughout the country end up having to deal with drug deficiencies, ultimately affecting the patient’s health and well-being, the very main concern of a hospital and its staff.
The nationwide drug shortage has the greatest effect on the patients, who are affected both physically and emotionally. Cancer patients, including children, are not getting the drugs they need. According to Julie Golembiewski, doctor of Pharmacy, in the Journal of Peri-Anesthesia Nursing, chemotherapy drugs are the scarcest, among others, such as