# Whoops! No Valium in our box



## Hockey (Feb 15, 2012)

Apparently there is a national shortage of Diazepam once again.  Doing rig check and noticed we have no Valium in our box.

Anyone else having problems keeping it stocked?


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## TheGodfather (Feb 15, 2012)

we have no valium & no ativan & no versed.... new seizure protocol (mind you, this is verbatim) - "drive fast"


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## Hockey (Feb 15, 2012)

TheGodfather said:


> we have no valium & no ativan & no versed.... new seizure protocol (mind you, this is verbatim) - "drive fast"



Nice...

We have Versed, however its not in the protocol.  :blink:


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## rmabrey (Feb 15, 2012)

We switched to Ativan in november. Unfortunately we don't have refrigerators on our units so we toss it after 90 days. 

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## TheGodfather (Feb 15, 2012)

rmabrey said:


> We switched to Ativan in november. Unfortunately we don't have refrigerators on our units so we toss it after 90 days.
> 
> Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk



we had the same problem, which led us to constantly buying more ativan, which led to the ativan shortage... im gonna test my jedi mind tricks on my next seizure patient, ill get back to you all with how it works out for me!


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## NomadicMedic (Feb 15, 2012)

We just got approval to stock Ativan when we run out of Versed. We're also having a hard time getting Fentanyl.


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## NYMedic828 (Feb 15, 2012)

TheGodfather said:


> we had the same problem, which led us to constantly buying more ativan, which led to the ativan shortage... im gonna test my jedi mind tricks on my next seizure patient, ill get back to you all with how it works out for me!


*
These are not the convulsions you're looking for*


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## RipCity (Feb 15, 2012)

Yea I work in a OR and we got some shortages as well.


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## Handsome Robb (Feb 15, 2012)

We use versed, hospitals are running into issues with the shortage, I haven't heard of any problems at work though.

The fentanyl shortage has been a bit of a pain but we have it, it expires every 30 days though :wacko: Idk what the deal with it is.


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## Epi-do (Feb 15, 2012)

We've been told there's a Versed shortage, but still have it on our trucks at the moment.  We've been going back and forth between Fentanyl and Morphine due to the Fentanyl shortage.  Then we were told there is now a Morphine shortage too.  When I was last at work, we still had Fentanyl on my truck, but some of our other trucks have Morphine on them.


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## Handsome Robb (Feb 15, 2012)

Epi-do said:


> We've been told there's a Versed shortage, but still have it on our trucks at the moment.  We've been going back and forth between Fentanyl and Morphine due to the Fentanyl shortage.  Then we were told there is now a Morphine shortage too.  When I was last at work, we still had Fentanyl on my truck, but some of our other trucks have Morphine on them.



We carry all 3. Versed, Morphine and Fentanyl.


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## jjesusfreak01 (Feb 15, 2012)

TheGodfather said:


> we have no valium & no ativan & no versed.... new seizure protocol (mind you, this is verbatim) - "drive fast"



I blame Whitney Houston...


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## Cup of Joe (Feb 15, 2012)

jjesusfreak01 said:


> I blame Whitney Houston...


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## TheGodfather (Feb 15, 2012)

jjesusfreak01 said:


> I blame Whitney Houston...



hahaha!


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## fast65 (Feb 16, 2012)

We use Versed, and from what I've seen, we don't have a problem keeping it in stock, however, we don't use a whole lot of it. That being said, we're having problems wit shortages as well (i.e. Zofran and Roc), but that's another discussion I suppose.


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## Jon (Feb 16, 2012)

My 911 services both ditched Valium when it expired out last year. Aside from a single case, we threw away the last 2-3 batches without ever using it.

Both services carry Versed and Ativan, and PA protocols allow all 3 to be used interchangeably.


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## mikie (Feb 16, 2012)

hospitals around here are experiencing drug shortages; it's affecting our stocking of 'regular' (non-scheduled) drugs.


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## jwk (Feb 16, 2012)

NVRob said:


> We use versed, hospitals are running into issues with the shortage, I haven't heard of any problems at work though.
> 
> The fentanyl shortage has been a bit of a pain but we have it, it expires every 30 days though :wacko: Idk what the deal with it is.



Fentanyl is perfectly stable at room temp.  It does not expire in 30 days.  The only exception might be if you're getting prepared syringes from a pharmacy that was made up out of larger quantity amps of fentanyl.  For example, your pharmacy might take a 20cc amp of fentanyl and draw out ten 2cc syringes.  When my pharmacy does that, they put a 30-day expiration on those syringes.


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## Handsome Robb (Feb 16, 2012)

They are vials. I'll try to get a picture of one tomorrow. They are really random. The running joke is "grandpa's fentanyl"


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## emtchick171 (Feb 25, 2012)

Right now we still have enough Valium for all of our trucks to be stocked, and have plenty for re-stock. However, last employee meeting it was discussed that we will be getting Ativan to have on hand, if/when we run out of Valium.


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## mycrofft (Feb 25, 2012)

*Don't be a dumping ground.*

Be mindful, you may be getting stock that his on its last 30 days as a way for a supplier/hospital to rotate out their older stock. Our supplying AFB hosp used to do that to my guard unit until our commander talked to their commander about it.


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## CDub (Feb 28, 2012)

Now using Ativan d/t the shortage. We're using cheap fridges that power off a USB on our mdt's to refrigerate it. No problems so far.


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## NomadicMedic (Feb 28, 2012)

We just did the state training on Ativan, as it was just added to our protocol in case we run out of versed.


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## Farmer2DO (Mar 3, 2012)

Here's a link to a physician emergency medicine forum.  Lots of people are having shortages, and what they're running out of is truly frightening.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=890599


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## jjesusfreak01 (Mar 3, 2012)

Farmer2DO said:


> Here's a link to a physician emergency medicine forum.  Lots of people are having shortages, and what they're running out of is truly frightening.
> 
> http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=890599



How do you run an ER without MS, Dilauded, Ativan, Versed, Reglan, Phenergan, Zofran, and Toradol? I mean, I know there are alternative drugs, but it seems a bit more dangerous for all the providers to start using drugs they aren't as familiar with in an emergent environment.


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## rmabrey (Mar 3, 2012)

Looks like we will also be making the switch to Diprivan cause of the Etomidate shortage 

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## jjesusfreak01 (Mar 3, 2012)

rmabrey said:


> Looks like we will also be making the switch to Diprivan cause of the Etomidate shortage
> 
> Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk



Because that went so well for Michael Jackson...


Seriously though, it seems really really bad to have paramedics (or any providers) switching to drugs they weren't trained on and haven't used on the fly due to shortages. I hope they are doing some hardcore con-ed on these.


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## Handsome Robb (Mar 3, 2012)

jjesusfreak01 said:


> Because that went so well for Michael Jackson...
> 
> 
> Seriously though, it seems really really bad to have paramedics (or any providers) switching to drugs they weren't trained on and haven't used on the fly due to shortages. I hope they are doing some hardcore con-ed on these.




The national scope for Paramedics includes >100 medications and you are responsible for knowing them. 

It's not too bad swapping from one benzo to another, for example.


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## triemal04 (Mar 4, 2012)

NVRob said:


> The national scope for Paramedics includes >100 medications and you are responsible for knowing them.
> 
> It's not too bad swapping from one benzo to another, for example.


Over 100...really...

Not even close.


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