CNN
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As a trio of respiratory viruses spreads across the country and pediatric hospitalizations remain high, some hospitals are facing a new problem: a shortage of medical-grade cribs.
Children’s hospital beds have been more crowded than usual for months. Last month, children’s health leaders called for a formal declaration of emergency by the US government to support hospitals and communities amid an “alarming rise in pediatric respiratory illnesses, including respiratory syncytial virus.” (RSV) and influenza, along with the ongoing children’s mental health emergency. ”
Michigan’s largest health system, Corewell Health, has ordered more than 50 additional cribs “to accommodate the increase in pediatric upper respiratory tract infections,” Tim Essenmacher of Corewell Health’s William Beaumont University Hospital told CNN in an email. and Melanie Fisher of Corewell Health East.
Corewell Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital has removed specialized and non-specialized cribs from stock to meet the demand of pediatric patients.
“We also received a shipment of 10 cribs from Stryker Corporation. Additional cribs have been ordered so that we are well positioned to handle additional pediatric patients,” said Jeremy Kelly, commercial insurance specialist at that hospital.
A Stryker spokesman declined to comment.
Demand at Hard Manufacturing, which makes cribs, bassinets and youth beds for hospitals, has skyrocketed, President Marjorie Bryen said.
“It’s been a crazy time for the last 4-6 weeks and it doesn’t look like it’s going to calm down anytime soon,” he wrote in an email.
“Since we make our products to order for each hospital customer, this increase in demand (especially after very limited demand during the 2 years of COVID) has been challenging for us to maintain our typical response times. We are working overtime to meet demand to the best of our ability. Maintaining a high quality product is critical and taking shortcuts is not an option,” Bryen said.
Ventilators are also in demand, according to the American Hospital Association, which received its first non-Covid-related request to pool dynamic ventilators since the program’s launch in April 2020 due to rising RSV cases.
Cynthia Zheng, director of pharmacy operations and support services at Nemours Children’s Health, Delaware Valley, says there have been shortages since the covid-19 pandemic.
“These shortages range from items that are on backorder with no estimated ship date to product discontinuation without notice. The reasons include transportation problems and labor shortages,” Zheng said. “At Nemours Children’s Health, these supply challenges are magnified as pediatric populations need more specialized equipment to accommodate different stages of growth. Additionally, the high volumes resulting from an early spike in RSV have only put more pressure on an already stressed system.”
And as more people turn to drugs to ease symptoms or treat infections, hospitals are reporting shortages of products like Tamiflu, amoxicillin, Augmentin and albuterol.
The shortage of these key medicines used to treat common childhood illnesses like flu, ear infections and sore throats does not appear to be a manufacturing problem but the result of increased demand.
Demand for over-the-counter children’s pain relievers has also increased, fueled by the rise in respiratory illnesses.
At Seattle Children’s, Emily Benefield, pharmacy clinical program manager, encourages families to wait to purchase over-the-counter liquid fever reducers if their child does not have a fever and to “consider other ways to keep your child comfortable, such as making sure they are well hydrated and avoiding overheating with clothes and blankets.”
Such alternative treatments “could be a key factor in addressing the shortage,” Zheng said.
Pharmacy director Champ Burgess at University Hospitals Cleveland says officials are asking doctors to prescribe alternative drugs, such as cephalexin and trimethoprim, to reduce demand for some of the affected drugs.
“We try to save the drug for patients who really need it and there are no other alternatives available, but if there is an alternative, we provide guidelines for doctors to switch to,” Burgess said.
Nancy Foster, vice president of quality and patient safety policy for the American Hospital Association, said preserving medications for critically needed patients is especially important for the pediatric population.
“We want to be very good stewards of the drugs that are available to us because their supply is limited and because we know that if we give them when they’re not needed, they can actually increase the strength of the viral infection.” she said.
While hospital systems may seem to be at a tipping point, overloaded with sick people and without medicines and equipment, Mike Schiller, senior director of supply chain for the Association for Healthcare Materials and Resource Management, said that no need to worry.
“We come to three years that we’ve been in this type of environment, and the back end of the US health care system, the hospitals, hasn’t been broken,” he said. “We are very resilient, very resourceful. And I think you’ve seen that in both clinical and supply chain workflows and operational processes to support patient care, and we’ll continue to do that with RSV, flu and any covid cases that arise.”
Last month, children’s health leaders called for a formal emergency declaration from the federal government to support hospitals and communities amid an “alarming rise in pediatric respiratory illnesses, including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza, along with the ongoing children’s mental health emergency.
The Biden administration has not declared a public emergency for RSV or flu, but in a letter to the nation’s governors on Friday, US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote that the emergency declaration for public health by Covid-19 can be applied to more broadly address challenges brought about by a confluence of Covid-19 and other respiratory and seasonal diseases.
“The Administration has exercised regulatory flexibilities to help healthcare providers continue to respond to COVID-19. These flexibilities, while critical to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, can also help address many of the challenges you face during the spread of non-COVID-19 illnesses, including RSV and flu,” says the letter. “They continue to be available to you and healthcare providers as they all provide care in response to the flu, RSV, COVID-19 and other illnesses.”
For example, if a hospital is experiencing staffing shortages that have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, it could use a waiver that would allow for greater surge capacity or easier patient transfers, even if patients need treatment for something they not Covid-19, like the flu or RSV.
Becerra acknowledged that the flu and other respiratory viruses are “increasing pressure” on the country’s health care systems, saying the Biden administration “stands ready to continue helping them with resources, supplies and personnel.”
Source: news.google.com