Pharmacists donned white suits in a sterile chamber then entered a "clean room" on a recent Tuesday at the Cleveland Clinic's main campus, ready to make a medication needed for patients. The team mixed 60 batches of Bupivacaine 0.1% + Fentanyl 2mcg/ml -- an epidural anesthetic used during surgery. They make this anesthetic once, at times twice, a week in addition to other drugs Clinic doctors need for patients. A nationwide shortage of medications continues to worsen at an alarming rate with no solution in sight, forcing medical systems in Northeast Ohio to take steps like this to avoid going without sometimes basic drugs.
