ASHP’s Drug Shortages database is the most widely recognized leading source of evidence-based drug shortage information for clinicians, consumers, and health policy leaders. It is their go-to source for information and resources on drug products, their availability, and management.
ASHP’s Drug Shortages identifies drugs on shortage and assists in discovering other potential shortages so hospitals and health systems can pin point where those drugs or alternatives have been stockpiled in areas that don’t have a large need and target them for reallocation to areas with need. This resource can reduce time spent identifying drugs on shortage and what presentations are still available or researching therapeutic alternatives. It can also save budget resources. A recent study on the hidden cost of drug shortage in U.S. hospitals found it’s estimated that drug shortages are costing facilities at least $359 million per year in additional spend on labor alone and U.S. hospitals spend an additional 8.6 million personnel hours per year in managing the impact of drug shortages. ASHP represents pharmacists who serve as patient care providers in acute and ambulatory settings.
For over 70 years, ASHP has been on the forefront of efforts to improve medication use and enhance patient safety. For more information about the wide array of ASHP activities and the many ways in which pharmacists advance healthcare, visit ASHP’s website, www.ashp.org, or its consumer website, www.safemedication.com.
Having any one or more of these American Society of Health-System Pharmacists titles qualifies subscribers to receive ASHP’s Drug Shortages as a free STAT!Ref value-added resource: AHFS Drug Information, ASHP Injectable Drug Information, Compounding Sterile Preparations, Essential Evidence Plus & AHFS DI Essentials, Extended Stability for Parenteral Drugs, Merck Manual Professional Version & AHFS DI Essentials or Teddy Bear Book: Pediatric Injectable Drugs.
See the Drug Shortages Video and Drug Shortages Database Handout for more details. And, as a reminder, these six titles also provide access to the value-added title called AHFS Patient Medication Information, which also includes monographs in Spanish.
How do you set up Drug Shortage alerts? Login to TDS Health as you normally do. Click on the Profile link and login to your account. If you do not already have a Profile account, create one by clicking Register and entering your information. Click the Alerts tab. Select ASHP’s Drug Shortages. Go to the Alert Preferences tab. If you wish to receive emails, click the box next to “Email me when new bulletins are published.” Make sure to whitelist emails from drugshortages@tetondata.com.
If you do not wish to receive emails, you can also access the Drug Shortages panel on the homepage or, under the Resources drop-down, you can click Drug Shortages. You can also access Drug Shortages by clicking Alerts under the “Welcome Your Name” drop-down. In that case, you will need to have logged into your TDS Health Profile using your Profile username (email) and password. See the Drug Shortages Setup for more details.
Watch the video to learn more about Drug Shortages. If you do not have any of the above resources from TDS Health, and are interested in Drug Shortages, please contact your representative today at 800-901-5494.
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