Add Dextrose To The List Of Critical Medical Treatments In Short Supply
EMS teams are scrambling to change their protocol because of a lack of the drug, used to treat conditions such as hypoglycemia, dehydration, and more. Other industry news is on San Francisco's Laguna Honda Hospital, Paloma Blanca Health and Rehabilitation in New Mexico, Cigna, and more.
CIDRAP:
Emergency Medical Services Facing Critical Dextrose Shortage
Amid shortages going back months to over a year of dextrose syringes and intravenous fluid bags to treat a wide variety of emergency conditions, US emergency medical services (EMS) are scrambling to adapt treatment protocols and conduct trainings on how to use them. Dextrose is a critical drug used to treat conditions such as low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), dehydration, acute alcohol poisoning, and high potassium levels, or as a carbohydrate in parenteral nutrition. ( Van Beusekom, 8/4)
In other health industry news —
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco Sues Federal Government Over Laguna Honda Closure
San Francisco’s current and former city attorneys have filed a pair of lawsuits that they hope will bring the federal government’s effort to shutter Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center next month to a screeching halt. (Asimov, 8/4)
The Boston Globe:
A Reprieve For The Last Birth Center In Eastern Massachusetts
Reproductive rights advocates are breathing a sigh of relief after learning Thursday that a planned early September closing has been postponed for the North Shore Birth Center in Beverly, the last operating, free-standing center in Eastern Massachusetts. The potential loss had raised concerns about dwindling access to maternity services, particularly for low-income families and women of color. (Lazar, 8/4)
Stat:
Nursing Chain's Tangled Structure, Bankruptcy Threats Stymied Suits
After a hospital stay in 2016 for a brain tumor, Regina Romero was transferred to a nursing home in New Mexico. Romero died less than four months after arriving at the home; she was only 59 years old. (Whitlock, 8/5)
The Baltimore Sun:
Johns Hopkins-Led Consortium Gets $200 Million To Fight Top Global Health Threat: Tuberculosis
Johns Hopkins Medicine has received $200 million in federal funding to head up a consortium aimed at treating and stemming the spread of one of the world’s oldest and deadliest scourges: tuberculosis. (Cohn, 8/4)
Modern Healthcare:
Cigna Quarterly Report Highlighted By Low Medical Spending
Cigna saw net income rise 6.2% to $1.5 billion in the second quarter because of less emergency department and surgery utilization and lower direct costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the company reported Thursday. The decline in spending on care for fully insured customers, along with repricing in the insurer’s government-sponsored business, drove Cigna’s medical loss ratio down to 80.7%. The company reported an 84.4% medical loss ratio during the same period a year ago. (Tepper, 8/4)
Also —
AP:
Pope Promotes Vatican Nurse Credited With Saving His Life
Pope Francis has promoted a Vatican nurse whom he credited with saving his life to be his “personal health care assistant.” The Vatican announced the appointment of Massimiliano Strappetti in a one-line statement issued Thursday. Strappetti, the nursing coordinator of the Vatican’s health department, accompanied Francis on a difficult trip to Canada last month. Francis, 85, last year credited Strappetti with having accurately ascertained an intestinal problem that led to the pope’s 10-day hospital stay in July 2021 to remove 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon that had narrowed. ... Francis noted that Strappetti’s intervention was the second time a nurse had saved his life. (8/4)
