By Julie Cullen, Managing Editor, American Nurse Today
In March, CNN reported on an opioid shortage caused by problems with manufacturing as well as government restrictions in an effort to address the opioid crisis. And now the Association of Hospital Pharmacists has issued a fact sheet to help hospitals and other healthcare organizations address the shortage of injectable opioids. The fact sheet offers suggestions for:
- mitigating the impact of the shortage (for example, switching therapies, providing multimodal pain management)
- instituting inventory control strategies (for example, reserving supplies)
- implementing pharmacy operational strategies (for example, exploring legal options for purchasing product, limiting waste)
- developing infusion pump/informatics strategies (for example, reviewing records for needed changes).
You’ll also find a robust list of clinical pearls and safety information.
Julie Cullen, managing editor of American Nurse Today and a curator of online content for the American Nurse Today website, is most definitely not a nurse, but she admires what all of you do everyday. In her Off the Charts blog she shares some of her experiences as a patient and family member of patients, thoughts and ideas that occur to her during her work editing nursing content, and information she thinks you might find interesting. Julie welcomes your feedback. You can submit a comment on the website or email her at jcullen@healthcommedia.com.
