Drug shortage legislation
In the ED, we depend on a supply of necessary medications to treat patients in a timely and efficient manner. Recent drug shortages across the country have threatened the quality of care we provide and put patients? lives on the line. Emergency nurses have seen patients suffer needlessly and experience adverse events because substitute medications were not as effective or because, in some cases, no substitutes existed.
That?s why the Emergency Nurses Association strongly supports the Preserving Access to Life-Saving Medications Act introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Robert Casey (D-Pa.), which would require pharmaceutical companies to notify the Food and Drug Administration when a factor arises that may result in a shortage. The bill will increase the accountability of pharmaceutical companies to the public, help ensure the supply chain is more consistent, and allow the opportunity to plan for foreseeable shortages.
? AnnMarie Papa, RN, CEN, NE-BC, FAEN
President, Emergency Nurses Association
Des Plaines, Ill.
