October 17, 2024
Like all hospitals across the United States, our local hospitals are facing a shortage of IV and dialysis fluids due to the closure of a production facility in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.
The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and the Ohio Hospital Association (OHA) recently appointed Dr. Evaline A. Alessandrini, Chief Operating Officer of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, as the collective leader across Zone 3 (greater Cincinnati and the Dayton region). In this role, Dr. Alessandrini drives collaboration and coordinates a collective voice across Zone 3 when there are critical events impacting local healthcare. Zone 3 is issuing this statement to provide an update on the current situation and to assure the community that we are committed to providing safe, quality care to all patients throughout the duration of this event.
Hospitals in Zone 3 have implemented several conservation strategies to address the IV fluid shortage. Our hospitals have actively gathered ideas from our bedside care teams and have modified existing processes to safely reduce our use of IV fluids and preserve our current inventory. Our pharmacy and supply chain teams are monitoring the inventory of these products and are working closely with other manufacturers as well as ODH and The Ohio Board of Pharmacy, to secure supplies. Our regional associations, The Health Collaborative and the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association, are actively engaged as backbone support to convene hospital leaders across disciplines and include other clinical partners through each region’s healthcare coalition.
Our 48 hospitals across Zone 3, which includes 16 counties in southwest and west central Ohio, are in regular communication with each other to ensure that all facilities are prepared to meet the needs of our patients during this shortage. We also appreciate the statewide leadership and coordination provided by the Ohio Hospital Association and ODH.
Through consistent collaboration, our hospitals have shared regular updates and best practices around the conservation of IV fluids. We will continue to collaborate to lessen any impact on patient care. Should the situation escalate over the coming weeks, our systems are preparing additional mitigation strategies – including rescheduling elective surgeries that require a lot of IV fluid and can safely be postponed until the situation is resolved.
Our hospitals have a long history of working together to ensure that quality, safe care is provided to all patients during events such as this IV fluid shortage. The most recent was our high level of collaboration to address similar issues that arose during COVID-19. Our hospitals are committed to working together and keeping our communities informed when we experience these events.
