Falling Short?

How to keep the drug shortage from hurting your agency—and your patients

By Jenifer Goodwin, associate editor

Across the nation, EMS agencies are grappling with what is becoming an increasingly worrisome situation: shortages of medications that are crucial for saving lives. Many in EMS report that, for the most part, needed drugs are still in their drug boxes. But stocks are running low, and they’ve been told by their suppliers that it’s unclear when the next shipment is coming in.

In Roanoke, Va., all members of Roanoke County Fire and Rescue were recently retrained to use midazolam instead of diazepam to control seizures. “Versed [midazolam] looks identical, but it’s twice as potent,” says Stephen Simon, division chief for the department. “So you can’t just send an e-mail out. You have to retrain each person individually.” And even that may be a temporary measure—midazolam, along with others in the benzodiazepine class of medications, is also running short.

The Southern Nevada Health District, the regulatory authority for EMS in Clark County, Nev., is trying to figure out what to do about its dwindling supply of morphine. EMS authorities there considered switching to fentanyl—only that drug is on the shortage list, too. And at American Medical Response, Chief Medical Officer Ed Racht, M.D., is working with his team to figure out if they can move medications to different AMR locations around the country, filling in where supplies are running low....

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