ABSTRACT
Background & objectives: Healthcare associated infections (HAIs) increase the length of stay in the hospital and consequently costs as reported from studies done in developed countries. The current study was undertaken to evaluate the impact of HAIs on length of stay and costs of health care in children admitted to Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of a tertiary care hospital in north India. Methods: This prospective study was done in the seven bedded PICU of a large multi-specialty tertiary care hospital in New Delhi, India. A total of 20 children with HAI (cases) and 35 children without HAI (controls), admitted to the PICU during the study period (January 2012 to June 2012), were matched for gender, age, and average severity of illness score. Each patient’s length of stay was obtained prospectively. Costs of healthcare were estimated according to traditional and time driven activity based costing methods approach. Results: The median extra length of PICU stay for children with HAI (cases), compared with children with no HAI (controls), was seven days (IQR 3-16). The mean total costs of patients with and without HAI were ` 2,04,787 (US$ 3,413) and ` 56,587 (US$ 943), respectively and the mean difference in the total cost between cases and controls was ` 1,48,200 (95% CI 55,716 to 2,40,685, P<0.01). Interpretation & conclusions: This study highlights the effect of HAI on costs for PICU patients, especially costs due to prolongation of hospital stay, and suggests the need to develop effective strategies for prevention of HAI to reduce costs of health care.
ABSTRACT
Head injuries account for significant proportion of neurosurgical admissions and bed occupancy. Patients with head injuries also consume significant proportions of neurosurgical resources. A prospective 6-month study has been carried out to evaluate the expenditure incurred on head injury patients in a modern neurosurgical center equipped with state of the art infrastructure. Costing areas included wages / salaries of health care personnel, cost of medicines / surgical items / crystalloids, general store items, stationary, all investigation charges, equipment cost, overhead building cost, maintenance cost, electricity and water charges and cost of medical gases, air conditioning and operation theatre expenses. Expenditure in each area was calculated and apportioned to each bed. The statistical analysis was done using X2 test. The cost of stay in ward was found to be Rs. 1062 / bed / day and in neurosurgical ICU Rs. 3082 / bed / day. The operation theatre cost for each surgery was Rs. 11948. The cost of hospital stay per day for minor, moderate and severe head injury group was found to be Rs. 1921, Rs. 2569 and Rs. 2713 respectively. The patients who developed complications, the cost of stay per day in the hospital were Rs. 2867. In the operative group, the cost of hospital stay per day was Rs. 3804. The total expenditure in minor head injury was Rs. 7800 per patient, in moderate head injury was Rs. 22172 per patient, whereas in severe head injury, it was found to be Rs. 32852 per patient. Patients who underwent surgery, the total cost incurred was Rs. 33100 per operated patient.