Communication to physician: IV FLUID NATIONAL SHORTAGE
The manufacturing plant of IV fluids was located in Puerto Rico. Due to the damage caused by hurricane Maria, the plant will not be manufacturing for an extended period of time. Unfortunately there are very few additional suppliers. This is a national shortage and there is at least a 6-month backorder expected on IV fluids. In particular there is a serious shortage of the smaller bags of IV fluids that are used to mix our IV antibiotics. We are looking into all methods to procure additional IV supply. It is imperative that changes are made in order to conserve resources for long-term availability. Please review IV fluid therapy and saline lock whenever possible; some IV piggyback antibiotics may be substituted for IV push route during this time. Also, when possible, please convert antibiotics from IV to PO in an effort to conserve IV fluids. Zosyn is a high use antibiotic and is unable to be pushed, so please consider other less fluid intensive antibiotics (such as a cephalosporin + metronidazole) if appropriate. Please feel free to reach out to Eugene Kim, M.D., Chief Medical Officer at 714-992-3994 if you have any questions or concerns.