Doctors Raise Alarm About Shortages Of Pain Medications
Hospitals across the country are reporting significant shortages of pain medication. A survey of anesthesiologists found that 95 percent say it is impacting patient care.
In hospitals around the country, anesthesiologists and other doctors are facing significant shortages of injectable opioids. These drugs, like morphine, Dilaudid and fentanyl are the mainstays of intravenous pain control and are regularly used in critical care settings like surgery, intensive care units and hospital emergency departments.
The distance medical science has traveled over the last hundred years in pain management is practically miraculous. Walk into a pediatric intensive care unit at any major hospital in the country and, even though the children you'll see are critically ill from disease and surgery,
