An ongoing prescription drug shortage may be more of an inconvenience for local pharmacists, but it's causing Jefferson City's two hospitals to constantly scramble on behalf of their patients.
Garf Thomas, pharmacy director for St. Mary's Health Center, estimated the hospital has 50-100 drugs on back order. Denny Hamilton, his counterpart at Capital Region Medical Center, put the number at about 50.
Most of the hard-to-acquire drugs are small-volume indictable drugs, such as ones to treat pain and nausea for cancer patients.
"It's something we discuss every day in our daily huddles," Hamilton said. "We almost made a standing agenda item to talk about drug shortages and where we're at."