Drug shortages in American ERs have increased more than 400%

Emergency rooms are health care's front line - in the United States, nearly 45 out of 100 people visit an ER in any given year. But there's an issue brewing behind the scenes in emergency medical facilities, one that can't be fixed by a simple stitch or bandage. A new study published in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine shows that drug shortages in ERs across the United States increased by more than 400 percent between 2001 and 2014. The study analyzed data from the University of Utah Drug Information Service, which receives drug shortage reports submitted through a public site administered by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.