UR Medicine hospitals pause some elective, semi-elective surgeries to conserve IV fluids supply
DANSVILLE -- UR Medicine hospitals will pause some elective and semi-elective surgical procedures requiring IV sterile fluids beginning Wednesday, Oct. 16. This pause will be evaluated daily.
This pause will affect surgeries scheduled at all UR Medicine hospitals, including the Saunders Surgical Center at Noyes Memorial Hospital in Dansville, as well as the Noyes Health Services Same Day Surgery Center in Geneseo.
If you are currently scheduled for surgery or a procedure at one of our locations, you will be notified if your appointment has changed.
Additionally, steps are being taken in the Emergency Department and other units to utilize fluids in relation to need and acuity of illness. Other options such as oral rehydration may be utilized while managing patients’ symptoms.
Since Hurricane Helene, hospitals nationwide have experienced significantly reduced shipments of IV sterile fluids. The Baxter International Plant, based in Marion, N.C., was severely damaged because of flooding from the September hurricane.
According to the American Hospital Association, the plant makes 60% of the nation’s supply of IV fluids and peritoneal dialysis solutions, amounting to 1.5 million bags daily.
The U.S. government has approved use of fluids from international suppliers, and UR Medicine procurement teams are working to increase supplies from multiple vendors. While shipments of IV fluids have resumed at lower rates than before, and UR Medicine faculty and staff have taken multiple innovative steps to use fluids more efficiently, the incoming supply of IV fluids still does not match the rate at which they are used.
The pause on some elective and semi-elective surgeries will help UR Medicine extend its system-wide reserves of sterile fluids, ensuring consistent patient care across all locations with urgent and emergent cases as priorities. All cases will be reviewed daily to determine urgency and sterile fluid needs and surgeries and procedures requiring little or no IV sterile fluid use will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Patients will be contacted directly if their case must be postponed; they do not need to contact their surgeon’s office.
UR Medicine hospitals will resume full surgery schedules as soon as available resources allow.