Question

In the middle of a patient’s course of chemotherapy, the medication is no longer available due to manufacturing issues. The chemotherapy was prescribed for this patient using scientific evidence and patient outcomes.

How does the shortage of chemotherapy drugs impact the quality and safety of patient care?

Are work arounds such as substitute medications a safe alternative? Why or why not?

Identify an intervention that you can implement as the RN to advocate for safe patient care and positive patient outcomes when drug shortages occur.

Answer 1

How does the shortage of chemotherapy drugs impact the quality and safety of patient care?

The shortage of chemotherapy drugs have an adverse effect on the quality and safety of patient care. The unavailability of chemotherapy drugs force the clinicians to substitute safe and effective drugs with alternative due to which there may be a delay in medical procedures or causing medication errors which have severe impact on patients health and also on his financial ability for the treatment. For the patients in emergency departments, intensive care units and oncology wards the shortage of chemotherapy drugs may cause even death of patients.

Substitute medications is not a fully safe alternative it has some risk associated with it, like they may be more costly, or exact dosage present in the original may not be available so patients may be overdosed or underdosed the patient can develop some side effect due to composition change of the drug or the doctors and nurses are forced to spend more time on adjustment of the dossage per patient which is time consuming and may not be fully accurate this may also lead to over or under dosing and the chemotherapy may not be that effective.

An intervention that one can implement as the RN to advocate for safe patient care and positive patient outcomes when drug shortages occur would be:-
1- To inform others regarding the shortage of drug supply as “a collective voice is more powerful that individual voices and nurses can use organizations to communicate with others about the issue” (McKeever, 2013).
2- To literate and concentrate on prevention illness for the patient, which includes, teaching exercise, nutrition and better habits so as to reduce the need for medical intervention.
As nurses better understand their patients and also the healthcare systems.They act as not only as first line of care givers but also as leaders to mitigate the problems associated with drug shortage.