Drug Shortages and Patient Outcomes Research Assignment

Drug Shortages and Patient Outcomes
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Drug Shortages and Patient Outcomes
How does the shortage of chemotherapy drugs impact health care?
According to McKeever, Bloch, and Bratic (2013), shortage of drugs affects the entire healthcare sector and in the past decade, the issue has worsened. Just like in business and the phenomenon of supply and demand, a drug shortage occurs when the patients’ demand for drugs supersedes supply. According to Mayer (2012), drug shortage occurs because of issues such as shortage of raw materials, issues in the manufacturing process as well as unanticipated demand increases.
First of all, chemotherapy drugs shortage forces the medical practitioners to change the clinical care being accorded to a patient (McKeever et al., 2013). The implication of the above statement is that doctors will either start making educated guesses or offer meaningful recommendations. McKeever and his colleagues also mention the “increased unanticipated side effects or toxicities, medication errors, and healthcare costs for patients and providers.” The above implications are also echoed by Hoffman (2013) who also adds that the risk for patients increases significantly as a result of drug shortages.
Are work arounds such as substitute medications a safe alternative? Why or why not?
Firstly, substitute medications are an interruption to the planned or the regular care for patients. Interruption...