Operating rooms and ASCs are facing persistent shortages of anesthetic agents, forcing anesthesia teams to substitute drugs and alter workflows.
The FDA listed 194 drugs in shortage, including ketamine hydrochloride injection, which is used for anesthesia. Shortages of injectables are particularly disruptive because of limited suppliers.
The most common drugs that experience shortages are cheap, generic, injectable medications that have been used at hospitals for a long time, including lidocaine and saline, according to Erin Fox, PharmD, senior director of drug information and support services at University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City.
Hospitals are working to lessen the impact on perioperative and anesthesia services.
Some health systems are adjusting EHR order sets to steer clinicians toward alternatives, while others are diversifying suppliers. A Vizient analysis identified injectable lorazepam as the shortage causing the most disruption in general and pediatric hospitals, underscoring the impact on anesthesia and sedation practices.
The shortages come on top of broader workforce pressures in anesthesia. Staffing gaps, reimbursement cuts and increasing demand are stretching anesthesia departments, especially in ASCs.
“All of these challenges that anesthesiologists face are contributors to burnout,” Ronald Harter, MD, a professor of anesthesiology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus and former president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, told Becker’s. “That has impacts on the workforce, which also contributes to burnout, so this is more than just about the balance sheet. It impacts the health and well-being of anesthesiologists.”
While American Society of Health-System Pharmacists data shows the number of shortages is declining from a record high in 2024, anesthesia leaders remain on alert as shortages of critical medications continue.