Hospitals scramble on the front lines of drug shortages

Shortages of prescription drugs have been a growing concern for the past six years. They nearly tripled from 2005 to 2010 and reached record levels in 2011 as manufacturers ceased operations or ran into production problems. The Food and Drug Administration has been scrambling to respond, helping firms resume production more quickly and approving emergency imports of supplies.

More than 210 drugs are in short supply or totally unavailable, according to Bona Benjamin of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. The majority are generic injectable medications widely used in hospitals, including drugs used to relieve pain, fight cancer or infections, anesthetize surgical patients, treat cardiovascular disease, and manage psychiatric conditions.

Most hospitals rarely get advance notice of the shortages, explanations of what caused them or estimates of how long they will last. So pharmacists scramble. They repackage higher concentrations into smaller doses. They find substitutes, which can often be more expensive. They ration drugs.

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