Haider A, et al. - Researchers examined how the shortage of parenteral opioids influence prescription patterns and pain response among hospitalized patients with cancer. They performed a cohort study of 386 patients with cancer referred to a palliative care team for pain management before and after the announcement of parenteral opioid shortages. The parenteral opioid shortage (POS) was identified inducing a significant change in opioid prescription patterns. After the announced shortages, significantly fewer parenteral opioids and more nonparenteral opioids were prescribed by the referring oncology and palliative care teams. Moreover, fewer patients achieved clinically improved pain after the POS. Patient satisfaction and hospital length of stay thus could be affected by these factors.