Direct economic loss incurred by nosocomial infection of inpatients at a tertiary hospital / 中华医院管理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the direct economic loss of nosocomial infection at a tertiary hospital, so as to provide data support for the improvement of hospital infection control. Methods Inpatients discharged in 2013-2015 period were divided into two groups at a 11 pairing ratio, having those suffering from nosocomial infection in only one occasion as the infection group, and those without as the non-infection group. The two groups were compared of their differences in days of stay and hospitalization expenses. Results The days of stay of the infection group were significantly longer than the non-infection group, averaging 6 days longer in terms of the median. Compared with the non-infection group, the total hospitalization cost and the differences with sub-categories other than the treatment cost were of significance. The costs over the non-infection group were mostly contributed by drugs, accounting for 50. 39%, while 23. 50% of which were spent on antibiotics. The additional antibiotics costs were mainly incurred by respiratory tract infections during hospitalization, as the costs of antimicrobial agents for the infection group were 27. 34 times that of the non-infection group. The second contributor was surgical site infection, with the cost of antibiotics 7. 63 times that of the non-infection group. Conclusions Hospital infections prolong the days of stay, increase direct economic loss, especially increase the cost of antibiotics. Prevention and control of respiratory system and surgical site infection can effectively reduce the direct economic loss of hospital infection.