Ohio hospital working to conserve IV fluids amid national shortage

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Hospitals in central Ohio are feeling the effects of a nationwide IV fluid shortage caused by Hurricane Helene.

The storm damaged a facility in North Carolina owned by Baxter International. The site is the largest producer of IV fluid in the country, producing 60% of the nation's supply. The damage led to a temporary closure which, in turn, has led to the shortage.

“This is really a national problem, not just a problem facing our hospitals here in central Ohio," said Jeff Klingler, president and CEO of the Central Ohio Hospital Council (COHC). 

He said central Ohio's four major hospital systems were on the phone about the issue Monday morning.

“There were even some that got on calls over the weekend," Klingler said. "That's kind of what the hospitals do to collectively communicate and make sure that as a community of hospitals, we’re all in good shape to provide quality patient care.”

The hospitals are working together to find solutions, according to Klingler.

"Our hospitals are working with their bedside care teams to identify ways to conserve their existing inventories," he said. "The second way is really to reach out to manufacturers of this product to find ways to increase their allocations over the next several weeks."

Some hospitals in other states have decided to postpone certain elective surgeries. Klingler said it's possible that could happen here, but it is not happening at the moment.

"It’ll be now until end of November, end of December until, I think, we're really going to return to that regular allocation the hospitals expect," Klinger said. "So it's that window between conservation and trying to get more product in, they’re hoping not to have to pull that trigger on canceling certain types of procedures. If a patient is contacted by their hospital to reschedule a certain procedure, it’ll be a procedure that is very safe to be performed two, three, four weeks from now.”

Baxter said its goal is to get back to 90% to 100% of its allocation of certain products by the end of the year.

“When you’re faced with an issue, you have to get creative and you have to find solutions and that's what we’ve done during these types of situations," Klingler said.

Klingler said the hospitals and council will continue to have several phone calls a week about the situation.