Drug shortages are a growing problem in developed countries. To some extent they are the result of technical and organisational failures, but to view drug shortages simply as technical and economic phenomena is to miss the fact that they are also ethical and political issues. This observation is important because it highlights both the moral and political imperative to respond to drug shortages...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have described drug shortages; however, there has been no comprehensive evaluation focusing on US antibacterial shortages. METHODS Drug shortage data from the University of Utah Drug Information Service database were analyzed, with a focus on antibacterial agents from 2001 to 2013. We used descriptive statistics to describe trends in drug shortages, analyze drug cl...

BACKGROUND Drug shortages have become all too common and affect all aspects of the health care delivery system. The increased number of drug shortages has had a negative impact on patient care as well as costly financial implications. OBJECTIVES This article identifies the current problems and negative outcomes drug shortages have caused and provides a framework for how to best prepare for an...

Background: Orphan drugs (ODs) are pharmaceuticals manufactured for rare conditions that affect less than 200,000 people in the US. ODs are therefore produced in small quantities to meet sparse demand. Since 2010, OD shortages have become frequent, but no comprehensive, quantitative studies exist. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the rates of OD shortages per therapeutic clas...

Several hospitals face nurse staffi ng shortages for surgeries. This research focuses on building a system with a Baxter robot capable of identifying surgical tools using computer vision and delivering them to the surgeon on demand. This would deal with the issue of nurse unavailability during simple surgical procedures. The key aspects of the project were testing the accuracies of various arti...

CONTEXT Physician shortages are appearing, yet controversy about their significance and uncertainty about their remedy exist. OBJECTIVES To sample the perceptions of medical school deans and state medical society executives about the adequacy of physician supply, to determine the perceived impact of any shortages on medical schools, and to assess the capacity of medical schools to expand. D...