CNN
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Patients who visit emergency departments for dehydration or nausea are half as likely to receive IV fluids now than they were before Hurricane Helene exacerbated supply shortages, according to a analysis of health records by Truveta Research.

When the storm hit western North Carolina last month, flooding and other damage stopped production at Baxter’s North Cove Manufacturing Plant. The site typically supplies about 60 percent of the intravenous fluids to U.S. hospitals, and the outages led to several new LOSS.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Earlier this month, “disruption to supply may impact patient care and may require adjustments to clinical patient management.” To minimize impact on patients, federal agencies, and professional organizations recommended that health care providers develop resource conservation strategies, including substituting oral hydration such as Gatorade or Pedialyte whenever possible and continuously assessing the clinical need for IV fluids.

Changes were visible in just over a week, Truveta’s analysis suggests.

The team analyzed nearly 350,000 emergency department visits for patients age 12 and older who were admitted for dehydration or nausea or vomiting between January 1 and October 13.

It found that, on average, about 6.6 percent of patients admitted to an emergency department with dehydration were given saline fluids through an IV in the months before Hurricane Helene. But 10 days after the storm made landfall, IV rates dropped to about 2.5 percent for those patients. Similarly, for those admitted with nausea or vomiting, rates of IV fluid administration dropped from an average of 5.5% to 2%. These trends were consistent across age groups.

Intravenous fluids are used for a wide range of medical purposes. Some, like dehydration, can be helped with alternative methods. But others, such as organ transplants, cannot.

Conservation strategies, such as substituting oral alternatives for patients who can tolerate them, are one of many levers being pulled to help ensure these essential supplies remain available to the people who need them most, said Dr. Chris DeRienzo, the institution’s chief medical officer. American Hospital Association.

“These conservation efforts make a big difference in helping to ensure that for patients who really have no alternative, we have the supplies we need,” he said. “Every patch we put on this patchwork quilt to try to cover that 60% hole helps.”

Other efforts are also creating momentum in the supply chain. On Monday, the US Food and Drug Administration announced that it had extended expiration dates for many products manufactured before the hurricane hit. The agency also allowed the temporary importation of products from some non-U.S. facilities to help ease the shortage, and other U.S. manufacturers — B Braun Medical and ICU Medical — stepped up production to help fill gaps.

But restoring the supply chain to full capacity will take time. The first imports of intravenous fluids began arriving on flights about a week ago, but there is a “time frame” in which providers could begin receiving new shipments, Baxter said in a statement. Baxter too is expected to resume some production at its western North Carolina plant this week, but notes that additional supply won’t reach suppliers for several more weeks.

“We carefully manage both the availability of previously finished products coming out of North Cove and the importation of products into the US,” the company said.

Meanwhile, many hospitals still operate with command centers focused on making real-time decisions about supply rationing.

“We’ve seen optimism in terms of supply growth, but you can’t really plan based on hope,” DeRienzo said. “So until you start seeing increased allocation consistently showing up on your loading dock, it becomes more difficult to plan beyond the time scale that a command center helps you manage.”

And the threat of respiratory virus season is looming. People who have severe respiratory conditions are among those who usually cannot tolerate oral treatments.

“There’s certainly a concern that as efforts to repair the supply chain continue, we’re also running on a timer that viruses beyond our control are really dictating,” DeRienzo said.

But patients shouldn’t worry that their care will be compromised, he said: “We’re in the middle of conservation efforts that have a significant impact on utilization, but all of this work is making sure we have (IV fluids ). ) for patients when they need them.”