Hospitals in North Texas continue to conserve supplies to avoid procedure delays as IV fluid deficiency testing systems are implemented across the country.

Flooding from Hurricane Helene in late September caused the company Baxter International North Carolina will close its manufacturing facility. responsible for this 60% of IV fluids used in the USA According to the American Hospital Association.

Stephen Love, president Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital CouncilHe said the coalition of 90 North Texas hospitals has avoided canceling or delaying elective procedures through conservation efforts and alternative solutions and types of treatments.

“We’re hoping that maybe by mid-December or late December we’ll be back to almost normal,” he said. “Thanks to the full collaboration between our clinical leaders, we were able to weather the storm of IV shortage.”

Dr. Joseph Chang, Parkland Health’s chief medical officer said the hospital system is prepared to save fluids by early next year. Conservation efforts range from eliminating automated orders for fluids to asking attending physicians to use only as much fluid as necessary.

“What we actually asked them to do at the beginning of the shortage was … really think about what type and what amount of fluid they needed,” he said. “A lot of these conservation efforts have worked out really well.”

Parkland Health received about half the supply it received before the hurricane, Chang said. The hospital system is using 60% of its supplies compared to before the shutdown.

Texas Health facilities are taking similarly proactive protective measures and using “alternative treatment options that are clinically appropriate and consistent with medical guidelines,” a spokesperson wrote in an email.

Representatives from Children’s Health and UT Health East Texas told KERA News that patients at their facilities have not experienced service interruptions.

Preservation efforts have varied across hospital systems across the country. Some nationwide systems included Midland Memorial Hospital They announced delays for elective surgeries.

Baxter International Announced on October 31 Operations had resumed earlier than expected at the plant’s most efficient production line in North Cove, North Carolina. Before the hurricane, the line produced about half of 1-liter IV solutions, the most used size among hospitals and clinics in the country.

The company aims to have 90% or 100% distribution of certain IV fluids to hospitals by the end of the year. Baxter International is scheduled to deliver its next update on Thursday.

Federal agencies are also Stepped in to help reopen Baxter Internationalsend supplies to hospitals and increase the supply of IV fluids from other providers; including obtaining temporary authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for IV fluids and dialysis products from other countries.

Kailey Broussard is KERA’s health correspondent. Got a clue? Email Kailey at: [email protected].

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