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Dallas Hospital Finds Way Around IV Bag Shortage

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – A shortage of intravenous or IV bags at a Dallas hospital has forced the nurses to get creative about how to administer certain medicine to their patients.

Their solution has brought them back to the basics of patient care.

They are doing it manually with a syringe, instead of a drip bag.

IV bag
IV bag (CBS11)

Nurses say that practice has created a much more personal environment between the health care provider and the patient.

Tessa Kennedy, a nurse at Texas Health Dallas said, "It's brought us back to that art of nursing."

The shortage in IV bags comes from the lack of production from the manufacturing plant in Puerto Rico which was devastated as a result of Hurricane Maria last year.

William Pressly, a patient at Texas Health Dallas, says he enjoyed the face to face treatment rather than relying on a bag. "It was great. Real easy. Real personable. I like it."

The change appears to be such a hit at the hospital that no one is rushing to get back to the IV bags.

"There is a general consensus from the nurses and the patients that we prefer this now," said Kennedy.

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