Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We heard about this. This popped up in the news
right after Hurricane Helene devastated so much of the southeast,
including the producers. I understand that of about sixty percent
of the IV fluid used by medical facilities in this country.
(00:20):
Greg Pikez joins us for a few minutes this morning.
NMC Pharmacy Manager Greg.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good morning, Good morning, how are you well?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Thanks for coming on. I hear that some hospitals around
the country are delaying surgeries because of a shortage. What's
the situation here here.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
In Nebraska medicine? I would say initially, you know, we
had a big push to try to find ways to
save our fluids so that we would not have to
delay surgeries or put off any patient care, and thus
far we've been successful at doing that.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Okay, how critical is this and what are you hearing
nationally about about the supply being restored?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
From perspective, I would say, this is the worst shortage
that I've been involved with in my career for over
seventeen years. You know, in comparison to Hurricane Maria in
twenty seventeen, when we all had to do something similar,
is that we had about a twenty five percent reduction
in our availability to get certain fluids or medications, and
(01:22):
in this situation it's over fifty percent, So it is
it is a critical shortage. I guess to answer your
second question about what are we hearing nationally, I know
you know from the perspective of Baxter, the plant in
North Carolina that got hit by Hurricane Helen, they are
still in mode of triaging and figuring out when the
(01:46):
opportunity will bet that can get back online. We're expecting
to be at least, you know, a couple of months
further get back up into full capacity. And that's what
we've been hearing at least as of last week.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
What is that about? Right? About sixty percent of the
nation's supply comes from there.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yes, for these and we're talking about fluids that are
kind of in the larger fluids that are used you know,
for your maintenance fluids if you come into the hospital
or if there needs to be any ivy nutrition. So
we're not talking about smaller medications or things that are
made elsewhere. These are the large bags of fluid that
(02:27):
most patients will receive when they're in the hut.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Right, I suppose most of us who are not in
the medical industry think well, this is just saline. A
little more complicated than that, right.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, So saline is definitely a high, high priority, but
there's also a number of other fluids that are used
for surgical cases. For you know, something that I think
oftentimes gets overlooked is that there's a lot of medications
that are have to be admixed with certain fluids. So
all of those could be acted and it's not just
(03:02):
you know, getting sailing.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah. Are you in touch with the other big providers
around the metro and around the state.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, I believe that we do have open communication with
you know, some of our colleagues and partners elsewhere. You know,
I don't have I'm not privy to a lot of
the information that's being cleared off that in some of
those conversations, but we do maintain conversations and share kind
of ideas and thoughts about how to serve fluid.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So far, so far, you're able to continue operations relatively
normally as I understand it.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yes, we have not had to make any well, we
have not had to make any changes to the way
that we approach patient care. We've not had to cancel cases.
We have created a lot of innovative solutions to identify
opportunities for us to reduce the amount of fluids that
we use in and not Some of that could be
in their compounding practices. Some of that is just the
(03:59):
way that we or fluids and kind of do a reassessment.
But we have not made any change to patient care.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, well, we're all learning something here, Greg, at least
I have. I never associated the IVY fluid supply with pharmacies.
I just assumed it was all shipped to the hospitals
and the nurses and doctors knew what to do with it.
But it has to come through you guys.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Right, Yeah, So we are the I guess we are
the overseers of all those fluids. They come to us
in our warehouse and we you know, distributed them throughout
our not just in the hospital, but also ot surgical
centers across the city, you know, where we kind of
keep track of all that and make sure that we
(04:40):
get things where they need to go.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Very good, Hey, Greg, thanks appreciate the time this morning.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, absolutely great.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
You too, have a good week too. That's Greg Pikes,
you an mc farm and Nebraska Medicine Pharmacy manager. Yeah,
it's every every industry. Everything you hear about casually is
always a lot more to it than than you you
know at first blush. So it sounds manageable here and
as Greg said, probably a couple of months Extra says
since till it'll be up and running at full capacity.
We heard about this. This popped up in the news
right after Hurricane Helene devastated so much of the southeast,
including the producers. I understand that of about sixty percent
of the IV fluid used by medical facilities in this country.
(00:20):
Greg Pikez joins us for a few minutes this morning.
NMC Pharmacy Manager Greg.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good morning, Good morning, how are you well?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Thanks for coming on. I hear that some hospitals around
the country are delaying surgeries because of a shortage. What's
the situation here here.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
In Nebraska medicine? I would say initially, you know, we
had a big push to try to find ways to
save our fluids so that we would not have to
delay surgeries or put off any patient care, and thus
far we've been successful at doing that.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Okay, how critical is this and what are you hearing
nationally about about the supply being restored?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
From perspective, I would say, this is the worst shortage
that I've been involved with in my career for over
seventeen years. You know, in comparison to Hurricane Maria in
twenty seventeen, when we all had to do something similar,
is that we had about a twenty five percent reduction
in our availability to get certain fluids or medications, and
(01:22):
in this situation it's over fifty percent, So it is
it is a critical shortage. I guess to answer your
second question about what are we hearing nationally, I know
you know from the perspective of Baxter, the plant in
North Carolina that got hit by Hurricane Helen, they are
still in mode of triaging and figuring out when the
(01:46):
opportunity will bet that can get back online. We're expecting
to be at least, you know, a couple of months
further get back up into full capacity. And that's what
we've been hearing at least as of last week.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
What is that about? Right? About sixty percent of the
nation's supply comes from there.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yes, for these and we're talking about fluids that are
kind of in the larger fluids that are used you know,
for your maintenance fluids if you come into the hospital
or if there needs to be any ivy nutrition. So
we're not talking about smaller medications or things that are
made elsewhere. These are the large bags of fluid that
(02:27):
most patients will receive when they're in the hut.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Right, I suppose most of us who are not in
the medical industry think well, this is just saline. A
little more complicated than that, right.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, So saline is definitely a high, high priority, but
there's also a number of other fluids that are used
for surgical cases. For you know, something that I think
oftentimes gets overlooked is that there's a lot of medications
that are have to be admixed with certain fluids. So
all of those could be acted and it's not just
(03:02):
you know, getting sailing.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah. Are you in touch with the other big providers
around the metro and around the state.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, I believe that we do have open communication with
you know, some of our colleagues and partners elsewhere. You know,
I don't have I'm not privy to a lot of
the information that's being cleared off that in some of
those conversations, but we do maintain conversations and share kind
of ideas and thoughts about how to serve fluid.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So far, so far, you're able to continue operations relatively
normally as I understand it.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yes, we have not had to make any well, we
have not had to make any changes to the way
that we approach patient care. We've not had to cancel cases.
We have created a lot of innovative solutions to identify
opportunities for us to reduce the amount of fluids that
we use in and not Some of that could be
in their compounding practices. Some of that is just the
(03:59):
way that we or fluids and kind of do a reassessment.
But we have not made any change to patient care.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, well, we're all learning something here, Greg, at least
I have. I never associated the IVY fluid supply with pharmacies.
I just assumed it was all shipped to the hospitals
and the nurses and doctors knew what to do with it.
But it has to come through you guys.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Right, Yeah, So we are the I guess we are
the overseers of all those fluids. They come to us
in our warehouse and we you know, distributed them throughout
our not just in the hospital, but also ot surgical
centers across the city, you know, where we kind of
keep track of all that and make sure that we
(04:40):
get things where they need to go.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Very good, Hey, Greg, thanks appreciate the time this morning.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, absolutely great.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
You too, have a good week too. That's Greg Pikes,
you an mc farm and Nebraska Medicine Pharmacy manager. Yeah,
it's every every industry. Everything you hear about casually is
always a lot more to it than than you you
know at first blush. So it sounds manageable here and
as Greg said, probably a couple of months Extra says
since till it'll be up and running at full capacity.
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