Empty Shelves, Full of Frustration: Consequences of Drug Shortages and the Need for Action

摘要

Drug shortages have been a topic of concern for health care institutions since the early 2000s and have recently reached a critical level. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reported that the majority of shortages involve generic inject-able agents and the most common reason cited for a shortage involves manufacturing problems.1 There has been research regarding the trends and reasons for shortages, and there is evidence regarding the effect of these shortages on patients, including patient harms.