1.
Rev Esp Anestesiol Reanim
; 58(5): 295-303, 2011 May.
Article
in Spanish
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21688508
ABSTRACT
The economic evaluation of medications and health care technology has gained importance in recent years. Health care resources are limited and their use must be optimized so that we can take the greatest possible advantage. Pharmacoeconomics seeks to analyze the best therapeutic drug choices to obtain the desired outcome in specific cases or in populations. The 4 approaches used in pharmacoeconomics are cost-minimization analysis, cost-benefit analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, and cost-utility analysis. This review examines the characteristics of each type of study using examples from anesthesiology, a field in which pharmacoeconomics is beginning to play a role.