Hospitals in Connecticut and across the country are grappling with a shortage of intravenous fluid after Hurricane Helene disrupted supply.
Medical experts call it unusual.
“In my career, and over 25 years, I've never seen actual shortages of IV fluid to the point where we're being suggested that we be very careful about how we use it,” said Dr. Christopher Moore, an emergency physician at Yale New Haven Hospital.
He said Yale is asking doctors to be judicious about administering IV fluids, which are used routinely to treat dehydration, internal bleeding, infection and trauma.
Moore was quick to reassure patients and families that the situation is difficult, but not dire.
“We’re not out of IV fluids, I don’t want anyone to panic,” he said. “But it’s crucial to what we do at the emergency department.”
Across the country, some hospitals are delaying elective surgeries amid the shortage.
Yale told Connecticut Public it’s working with suppliers to ensure adequate supplies across its hospital system.
UConn Health said it has a task force set up to work on conservation strategies and patient care.
“Like most facilities across the country, we are anticipating a long duration event,” UConn said in a statement. “While patient care is not currently impacted, the situation continues to be concerning and we are exploring all avenues to maintain required supply levels.”
UConn’s IV fluids – saline solution made in a way that is safe to administer to patients intravenously – comes from a Baxter International facility located in North Cove, North Carolina, which was impacted by Hurricane Helene.
Baxter said the company is working on resuming transportation out of the facility, expects engineering certification within weeks, and plans on communicating with hospitals its anticipated produced plans in two weeks.
“We have resumed shipments to hospitals and dialysis patients after the temporary hold last week,” the company said of its allocation plans. “We have moved finished goods from our North Cove site that were not impacted by the storm and are inspecting other finished goods onsite. This inventory will be used to support current allocations in the short term. Several of our global plants are scaling and ramping production to help meet U.S. needs, and we expect to receive product from these sources throughout the month of October.”
