Academic Emergency Medicine published the study.
Here are seven key notes:
1. In the nearly six-year period, the median shortage time for emergency medicine drug was nine months.
2. Shortages of drugs used in lifesaving interventions or high-acuity conditions rose 393 percent.
3. Shortages for drugs without an available substitute increased 125 percent.
4. Researchers found in 46.6 percent of cases, the manufacturers gave no specific reason for supply distribution.
5. Infectious disease drugs experienced 148 shortages during the study period.
6. Analgesia had 57 drug shortages during the study period including eight shortages of hydromorphone.
7. Several reasons for the delays including manufacturing delays, supply and demand issues and problems with raw materials.
“With increasing drug shortages in the United States, hospital systems and pharmacies need to inform front-line [emergency medicine] providers of these shortages and have hospital-wide protocols available for delivery of care when critical drugs are on shortage,” the authors noted.
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