Twin Cities hospitals face critical shortage of pain medications

[Star Tribune, October 13, 2018] Twin Cities hospitals are struggling amid a nationwide shortage to keep adequate supplies of critical care drugs, including pain meds like fentanyl and morphine that are necessary to surgery and recovery.

As the long-simmering shortage ripples across the U.S. health care system, local hospitals and health systems are designating special pharmacy staff to monitor their inventories and search for new sources of the vital drugs.

“Pain medications are what keeps the wheels on the bus for the hospital,” said Jeffrey Bouman, pharmacy manager at Allina Health's Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. “These drugs are what makes us tick, what makes us work.” Read the full story at www.startribune.com.