Editorial: Medicine shortages in Australia - what are we doing about them?

Morris, Steve

doi:10.18773/austprescr.2018.047

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Directors of Pharmacy face different challenges in determining where to put their energy, emphasis and resources. Escalating drug budgets and medicines shortages 3 have been added to responsibilities for medication safety within an already stretched hospital system. The reluctance to tackle another area, particularly one seen as outside your immediate control, is not surprising.…”

Section: An Opportunity Lostmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shared Decision Making and the Importance of Time

Pieterse

Stiggelbout

Montori

2019

JAMA

161

147

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Section: An Opportunity Lostmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shared Decision Making and the Importance of Time

Pieterse

Stiggelbout

Montori

2019

JAMA

161

147

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“…Over the years, the shortage of medicines has been a challenge to the effective delivery of quality healthcare services worldwide including South Africa [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10], with shortages of even essential medicines becoming a global problem irrespective of the economic status of countries [11][12][13]. More than half of the world's population do not have access to essential services [14], exacerbated by medicine shortages.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Europe, a recent survey among hospital pharmacists showed there had been a significant increase in medicine shortages across Europe with 91.8% hospital pharmacists in 2018 experiencing shortages compared to 86.2% in 2014, with 35% experiencing them on a daily basis and 38% on a weekly basis [17], which is a concern. There are also considerable shortages in other continents and countries including other low and middle income countries (LMICs) across South America and wider [5,6,8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some of the contributing factors to the shortage of medicines include manufacturing and quality problems, production delays, lack of manufacturing capacity, shortage of raw materials, political instability, and profitability issues [5,6,8,9,18]. Other factors include long lead times, delays in awarding tenders, absence of national contracts on the regional code lists of medicines, the failure of suppliers to meet demand, and the failure to pay suppliers [2,19,20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Medicine shortages and challenges with the procurement process among public sector hospitals in South Africa; findings and implications

Modisakeng

Matlala

Godman

et al. 2020

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background: Medicine shortages are a complex global challenge affecting all countries. This includes South Africa where ongoing medicine shortages are a concern among public sector hospitals as South Africa strives for universal access to healthcare. The objectives of this research were to highlight challenges in the current pharmaceutical procurement process for public sector hospitals. Subsequently, suggest potential ways forward based on the findings as the authorities in South Africa seek to improve the procurement process. Method: Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 pharmacy managers in public sector hospitals in the Gauteng Province, South Africa. A thematic content analysis was performed, with transcripts coded by two of the authors. Coding was discussed until consensus was reached. Categories were developed and grouped into themes. Results:The 'Procurement process' emerged from the data as the overarching theme, rooted in three main themes: (i) The buy-out process that was used to procure medicines from suppliers other than the contracted ones; (ii) Suppliers not performing thereby contributing to medicine shortages in the hospitals; and (iii) Challenges such as the inaccuracy of the electronic inventory management system used in the hospitals. Conclusions: Effective management of contracts of suppliers by the Provincial Department of Health is crucial to ensure accessibility and availability of essential medicines to all citizens of South Africa. Ongoing monitoring and support for the future use of computerised inventory management systems is important to reduce medicine shortages, and this is being followed up.

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“…Drug shortages are a major public health threat worldwide occurring in all therapeutic classes 1–7. According to the WHO, a drug shortage is defined as an insufficiency in the supply of medicines, health products and vaccines that are identified by the health system as essential to meet public health and patient need 8.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The French reporting system for drug shortages: description and trends from 2012 to 2018: an observational retrospective study

et al. 2020

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ObjectivesThe aim was to provide figures for drug shortages in France and describe their characteristics, causes and trends between 2012 and 2018.MethodsData from the national reporting system from the Agency of Medicine and Health Product Safety (ANSM) was analysed. This database contains information regarding effective and predicted shortages of major therapeutic of interest drugs (ie, drugs whose shortage would be life-threatening or representing a loss of treatment opportunity for patients with a severe disease) which are mandatory reported by marketing authorisation holders to the ANSM. Data are presented as numbers or percentages of pharmaceutical products (ie, the product name and its formulation) reported on shortage between 2012 and 2018.ResultsThere were 3530 pharmaceutical products reported on shortage during the period, including 1833 different active substances. Drugs on shortage were mostly old products (63.4%) with national marketing authorisation procedures (62.8%), as well as injectable and oral forms (47.5% and 43.3%, respectively). Anti-infectives for systemic use ranked first (18%), followed by nervous and cardiovascular system drugs and by antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents (17.4%, 12.5% and 10.4%, respectively). The number of reported shortages presented a fourfold increase between 2012 and 2018 and a sharp rise in 2017 and 2018, along with a rise in the number of active substances on shortage. The therapeutic classes concerned remained similar over time. Manufacturing and material supply issues were the main reported reasons for the shortage each year (30%) and there was an overall rise of pharmaceutical market reasons.ConclusionDrug shortages were increasingly reported in France. Preventive measures should specifically target the products most on shortage, in particular old drugs, injectable, anti-infective, nervous system and cardiovascular system drugs as well as antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents.

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Editorial: Medicine shortages in Australia - what are we doing about them?

Cited by 10 publications

References 3 publications

Shared Decision Making and the Importance of Time

Shared Decision Making and the Importance of Time

Medicine shortages and challenges with the procurement process among public sector hospitals in South Africa; findings and implications

The French reporting system for drug shortages: description and trends from 2012 to 2018: an observational retrospective study

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