A nationwide shortage of intravenous (IV) fluids persists following damage from Hurricane Helene to a production facility in North Carolina. Local hospitals are continuing to conserve supplies and say people may notice changes in care.
"There is no disruption to quality of care that hospitals are providing, but [patients] may see some minor changes," says Tiffany Mattingly, chief engagement officer and vice president of clinical strategies with The Health Collaborative, "especially when seeking care maybe within the emergency room, where they would usually expect to have an IV started right away, which may not happen, as the hospitals are looking at how best to conserve their supply."
RELATED: How local hospitals are preparing for a possible IV fluid shortage
Mattingly explains that may include hospitals administering smaller volumes of IV fluids, encouraging hydration by mouth — think drinking a Gatorade or Pedialyte — and having patients take medications and nutrition orally rather than through an IV.
Hurricane Helene damaged Baxter International's largest production facility — and bridges leading to said facility — in North Cove, N.C. Baxter International is one of the largest makers of IV fluids in the nation, supplying 60% of nation's IV fluids. Its plant in North Cove produces 1.5 million IV fluid bags per day.
The company had hoped to have the facility fully operational by the end of the year, but has pushed back that timeline as it focuses on providing other supplies, like for dialysis. Baxter said Thursday it has restarted the manufacturing line for the highest-throughput IV solutions, however those products aren't expected to begin shipping until late November.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has also granted approval to import IV fluids from nine plants overseas. The shelf life of existing product also has been extended.
RELATED: Shortage of IV fluids leads to canceled surgeries
Mattingly says local hospitals haven't had to make substantial changes, such as canceling large numbers of surgeries, like others across the country have.
"There are other hospitals across the state that ... have made changes to their non-emergent, non-urgent procedures as a conservation effort. From what we know here locally in southwest Ohio, we're actually receiving a little more supply than what our northern hospitals are receiving. So we're not at that place where our hospitals are having to change any operations to their procedures at this time."
Mattingly adds Baxter is prioritizing children's hospitals, so the majority of those are starting to receive their near full or expected allocations.
