CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- For most women, giving birth is one of life’s greatest blessings, but a nationwide drug shortage of Bupivacaine is causing concern for moms-to-be.
The higher concentrations of the drug are commonly used to numb pregnant women for c-sections.
Lower concentrations are also used for pain management in epidurals. Now, a shortage has hospital systems in our area monitoring their supplies and coming up with alternatives.
Anesthesiologists explained because of the shortage of Bupivacaine, it is slightly more likely they’d have to put a pregnant woman to sleep in an unplanned c-section with general anesthesia. But, they stress, anesthesia is not ideal.
“There's a big difference in risk for the mother, primarily due to risks of airway instrumentation or placing a breathing tube,” said anesthesiologist Scott Pennington.
For pregnant women, the thought of missing their child’s entrance into the world is devastating.
“From the day you get pregnant, for nine months you wait for the day you get to meet your child. Just seeing her for the first time, was just…your heart just beats in a different way,” described Charlotte mom Devon Cains who is pregnant with her second child.
Pfizer, the primary manufacturer of the drug, said the delay in production was caused by manufacturing capacity constraints and upgrades, along with prioritizing other medically necessary products.
To see how the shortage was affecting hospital groups in our area, NBC Charlotte reached out to the two largest providers, Atrium Health (which now runs Carolina’s Healthcare) and Novant Health.
Here are the statements:
“As standard practice, Novant Health works closely with Pfizer and all of our all pharmaceutical suppliers to anticipate, prevent and respond to potential shortfalls in product supply. When we learned of the shortage related to spinal bupivacaine, our pharmacy and supply chain teams worked closely with our clinical teams to implement conservation protocols that reserve spinal bupivacaine for cases that cannot be managed with alternative local anesthetics.” -- Joe Maki, Pharm.D, MS, Senior Director, Pharmacy Business Operations, Novant Health
“Atrium Health is dedicated to providing our patients with smooth, connected and efficient care. As drug shortages are a regular occurrence in the healthcare industry, our Pharmacy team has implemented procedures to control all drug usage system-wide by purchasing in bulk and effectively monitoring inventory levels. As a result, our teams anticipated the Bupivacaine shortage and placed necessary orders ahead of time. Atrium Health has an inventory of Bupivacaine to effectively treat patients without any disruption to care and have additional amounts arriving to act as a reserved supply for our C section patients, should the need arise.” -- Atrium Health