International Programme for Resource Use in Critical Care (IPOC)--a methodology and initial results of cost and provision in four European countries.

BACKGROUND: A standardized top-down costing method is not currently available internationally. An internally validated method developed in the UK was modified for use in critical care in different countries. Costs could then be compared using the World Health Organization's Purchasing Power Parities (WHO PPPs). METHODS: This was an observational, retrospective, cross-sectional, multicentre study set in four European countries: France, UK, Germany and Hungary. A total of 329 adult intensive care units (ICUs) participated in the study. RESULTS: The costs are reported in international dollars ($) derived from the WHO PPP programme. The results show significant differences in resource use and costs of ICUs over the four countries. On the basis of the sum of the means for the major components, the average cost per patient day in UK hospitals was $1512, in French hospitals $934, in German hospitals $726 and in Hungarian hospitals $280. CONCLUSIONS: The reasons for such differences are poorly understood but warrant further investigation. This information will allow us to better adjust our measures of international ICU costs.

The cost of a hospital ward in Europe: is there a methodology available to accurately measure the costs?

Costing health care services has become a major requirement due to an increase in demand for health care and technological advances. Several studies have been published describing the computation of the costs of hospital wards. The objective of this article is to examine the methodologies utilised to try to describe the basic components of a standardised method, which could be applied throughout Europe. Cost measurement however is a complex matter and a lack of clarity exists in the terminology and the cost concepts utilised. The methods discussed in this review make it evident that there is a lack of standardized methodologies for the determination of accurate costs of hospital wards. A standardized costing methodology would facilitate comparisons, encourage economic evaluation within the ward and hence assist in the decision-making process with regard to the efficient allocation of resources.

Evaluation of a local anaesthesia regimen following mastectomy.

Breast surgery can be emotionally distressing and physically painful. Acute pain following surgery is often related mainly to the axillary surgery and is aggravated by arm and shoulder movement. We conducted a prospective double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial to determine the influence of local anaesthetic irrigation of axillary wound drains on postoperative pain during the first 24 h following a modified Patey mastectomy (mastectomy with complete axillary node clearance). The treatment group received bupivacaine irrigation through the axillary wound drain 4-hourly for 24 h postoperatively. Controls received irrigation with normal saline. Morphine via a patient controlled analgesia pump was used for postoperative analgesia. Morphine consumption, visual analogue and verbal rating pain scores were recorded. There were no statistical differences in morphine requirements or pain scores between the two groups, nor were there differences in anti-emetic or supplemental analgesic consumption. Bupivacaine irrigation used in this manner does not appear to offer an effective contribution to postoperative analgesia.

Definitions and methods of cost assessment: an intensivist's guide. ESICM section on health research and outcome working group on cost effectiveness.

OBJECTIVE: To define the different types of costs incurred in the care of critically ill patients and to describe some of the most commonly used methods for measuring and allocating these costs. DESIGN: Literature review. Definitions for opportunity, direct and indirect, fixed, variable, marginal, and total costs are described and interpreted in the context of the critical care setting. Two main methods of costing are described: the 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' methods together with a number of cost proxies, such as the use of weighted hospital days, diagnosis-related groups, severity and activity scores, and effective costs per survivor. CONCLUSIONS: The assessment and allocation of costs to critically ill patients is complex and as a result of the different definitions and methods used, meaningful comparisons between studies are plagued with difficulty. When undertaking a study looking to measure costs, it is important to state: (a) the aim of the cost assessment study; (b) the perspective (point of view); (c) the type of costs that need to be measured; and (d) the time span of assessment. By being explicit about the rationale of the study and the methods used, it is hoped that the results of economic evaluations will be better understood, and hence implemented within the critical care setting.

Descriptive patient data as an explanation for the variation in average daily costs in intensive care.

Intensive care patients require therapy that can vary considerably in type, duration and cost, so making it extremely difficult to predict patient resource use. Few studies measure actual costs; usually average daily costs are calculated and these do not reflect the variation in resource use between individual patients. The aim of this study was to analyse a data set of 193 critically ill adult patients to look for associations between routinely collected descriptive data and patient-specific costs. Regression analysis was used to explore any relationships between average daily patient-specific costs and the following variables: duration of intensive care unit stay, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II scores in the first 24 h, gender, age, mechanical ventilation at any point during the stay, postoperative status, emergency admission and mortality. Overall, this analysis explained 33.6% of the variation in average daily costs. The additional costs of an extra day of care, mechanical ventilation, an extra point on the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score, and survival were obtained.

Variations in expenditure between adult general intensive care units in the UK.

This paper presents the findings from the second pilot study of the cost block method in 21 adult general intensive care units (ICUs). The aim of this study was to explore the possible reasons for the variation in cost identified in a previous pilot study of 11 ICUs. Data were collected for the six cost blocks for the financial year 1996/97. Multivariate analysis showed that 93% of the variation in expenditure on disposable equipment could be explained by the number of ICU beds, the number of admissions and the presence of a high-dependency unit (HDU). Ninety-two per cent of the variation in nursing staff expenditure was explained by the number of ICU beds and the presence of an HDU. Hospital type and the number of patient days explained 76% of the variation in expenditure on consultant staff. Sixty-four per cent of the variation in drug and fluid expenditure was explained by the number of patient days.

Cost considerations for the use of low-air-loss bed therapy in adult intensive care.

The aim of this study was to consider the costs of low-air-loss bed therapy in the adult intensive care unit (ICU). A retrospective cost analysis was performed on 269 consecutive patients, 63 of whom had received low-air-loss bed therapy. Patients' APACHE II scores, length of stay (LOS), average daily TISS and ICU outcomes were also collected. Patients' APACHE II and LOS were further studied using odds ratios to test for an association between these factors and likelihood of receiving bed therapy. A prospective 10-week study to identify the amount of nursing time spent repositioning patients was also performed. The results of this study found the bed therapy to represent approximately 3% of the total average cost of care per patient. Patients requiring the bed therapy had higher APACHE II scores on admission, higher average daily TISS points and a longer length of ICU stay. Study of the odds ratios would suggest that the likelihood of patients receiving low-air-loss bed therapy increases if their APACHE II score on admission is between 11 and 20 and they stay > 4.5 days in the ICU. The results of the prospective study found the daily cost of repositioning patients to be 172.80 Pounds per patient.

The patient-related costs of care for sepsis patients in a United Kingdom adult general intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the patient-related costs of care for critically ill patients with severe sepsis or early septic shock. DESIGN: Retrospective, longitudinal, observational study during a 10-month period. SETTING: Adult general intensive care unit (ICU) in a university hospital located in the United Kingdom. PATIENTS: The study population consisted of 213 patients admitted consecutively to the ICU during a 10-month period. Thirty-six patients were identified using standard definitions as having developed sepsis and analyzed by group (according to the day on which sepsis was diagnosed): Group 1 patients were septic at admission to ICU (n = 16); group 2 patients were septic on their second day in the ICU (n = 10); and group 3 patients developed sepsis after their second day in the ICU (n = 10). One hundred and seventy-seven ICU patients without sepsis were used as the comparative group (group 4). INTERVENTIONS: None. MAIN RESULTS: Patient-related costs of care, length of ICU stay, and ICU and hospital mortality rates were compiled. The median daily costs of care for patients in groups 1, 2, and 3 were $930.74 (interquartile range $851.59-$1,263.96); $814.47 ($650.89-$1,123.06), and $1,079.39 ($705.02-$1,295.96), respectively; these were significantly more than the group 4 patient's daily cost of $750.38 ($644.10-$908.55) (p < .01). The median total cost of treating the group 4 patients was $1,666.87 ($979.71-$2,772.03), significantly less than for the patients with sepsis (p < .01). The difference in total costs of care between the sepsis groups was also significant (p < .05), with a group 1 patient costing $3,801.55 ($1,865.28-$11,676.08), a group 2 patient costing $13,089.17 ($5,792.94-$22,235.18), and a group 3 patient costing $17,962.78 ($13,030.83-$28,546.73). Patients in groups 1, 2, and 3 stayed in the ICU for 3.3 days (1.3-11.3), 16.5 days (8.9-22), and 16.1 days (10.9-9), respectively. Significant differences were found among the three groups (p < 0.05), as well as between the patients with sepsis and those without (p < 0.001), whose median length of stay was 1.9 days (0.9-3.6). The ICU mortality rates were 50% each for groups 1 and 2, 60% for group 3, and 20% for group 4. Only one patient with sepsis and 16 patients without sepsis died in the hospital ward, producing overall mortality rates of 56% for group 1 and 29% for group 4. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with severe sepsis or early septic shock had a high mortality rate, spent prolonged periods of time in the ICU, and were significantly more expensive to treat than nonsepsis ICU patients.

The development of a method for comparative costing of individual intensive care units. The Intensive Care Working Group on Costing.

Intensive care is one of the most costly areas of hospital care. Unfortunately, because of the diversity of case mix, costing intensive care is difficult. Many described costing methods previously are limited by being cumbersome, laborious to apply and expensive. The aim of this study was to develop a method for costing intensive care which can be applied with ease but facilitate meaningful cost comparisons between intensive care units. The method developed was based on cost blocks where the major components were identified and costed in a 'top-down' manner. Using strict definitions, the cost blocks attempted to measure the costs of equipment, estates, nonclinical support services (such as hospital management costs), clinical support services (such as physiotherapy, laboratory services), consumables (such as drugs, fluids and disposables) and staff. The study found that clinical support services, consumables and staff costs accounted for approximately 85% of the total costs.

Evaluation of proposed casemix criteria as a basis for costing patients in the adult general intensive care unit.

This study analyses the relationship between the actual patient-related costs of care calculated for 145 patients admitted sequentially to an adult general intensive care unit and a number of factors obtained from a previously described consensus of opinion study. The factors identified in the study were suggested as potential descriptors for the casemix in an intensive care unit that could be used to predict the costs of care. Significant correlations between the costs of care and severity of illness, workload and length of stay were found but these failed to predict the costs of care with sufficient accuracy to be used in isolation to define isoresource groups in the intensive care unit. No associations between intensive care unit mortality, reason for admission and intensive and unit treatments and costs of care were found. Based on these results, it seems that casemix descriptors and isoresource groups for the intensive care unit that would allow costs to be predicted cannot be defined in terms of single factors.

A new method of accurately identifying costs of individual patients in intensive care: the initial results.

OBJECTIVES: To analyse the patient-related and non-patient-related costs of intensive care using an activity-based costing methodology. DESIGN: A retrospective cost analysis of 68 patients admitted sequentially over a 10-week period. SETTING: The Adult General Intensive Care Unit of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield. RESULTS: The results showed large variations in the costs obtained for individual patients. The calculation of the costs for the initial period of stay showed a wide variation depending on whether the costs were determined per calendar day or per first 24-h period. Significant correlations of costs between the first 24 h of stay and the admitting Acute Physiology and Chronic Health II score (p < 0.004) and daily costs with the Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System scores (p < 0.0001) were found. The average daily patient-related cost of care was Pounds 592. Overhead costs were calculated at Pounds 560 per patient day, which made the total cost of a day's treatment in intensive care Pounds 1152. CONCLUSIONS: The use of average costs or scoring systems to cost intensive care is limited, as these methods cannot determine actual resource usage in individual patients. The methodology described here allows all the resources used by an individual patient or group of patients to be identified and thus provides a valuable tool for economic evaluations of different treatment modalities.

The impact of the ageing population on intensive care provision.

This paper explores the impact of the ageing population on the health service and intensive care provision. The concept of rationing is discussed. The paper concludes that age alone is not a reliable prediction of outcome (e.g. length of stay; mortality). The review highlights the lack of literature available offering a comparison of costs associated with intensive care management of the elderly.

Clinical applications of electrical impedance tomography.

This article is a preliminary review of the possible clinical applications of electrical impedance tomography (EIT). The applications to, for example, the central nervous, respiratory, cardiovascular and digestive systems are covered. It is concluded that the area of greatest potential application of EIT is monitoring cardiopulmonary function, but that studies on much larger groups of patients than have been carried out hitherto are required to fully assess the potential of EIT as a clinical tool.

Minor procedures in the accident and emergency department: can Entonox help?

The efficacy of Entonox as a supplement to local anaesthesia for minor surgical procedures was studied. Eighty-five patients undergoing surgery for the incision and drainage of a subcutaneous abscess using a local anaesthetic were involved in a trial to ascertain the level of pain associated with such procedures and to investigate the possibility of using on-demand Entonox to supplement the local anaesthesia provided. Patients received either the standard local anaesthesia, or, alternatively, the local anaesthesia was supplemented with oxygen or Entonox via on-demand apparatus. Patients indicated on three linear visual analogue scales their pain, anxiety and total discomfort, and also on a cartoon pain rating scale, at different stages during the operation. Results showed that there was no statistically significant reduction in pain provided by the Entonox, despite general patient approval. Both oxygen and Entonox showed some anxiolytic properties. Pure oxygen was also seen to produce a rise in heart rate, while both gases (pure oxygen and Entonox) caused an increase in diastolic blood pressure. It was also seen that the patient's short term memory of the pain experienced was unaffected by pure oxygen or Entonox.

Postoperative analgesia after triple nerve block for fractured neck of femur.

Fifty patients with fractured neck of femur that required surgical correction with either a compression screw or pin and plate device were randomly allocated to receive one of two anaesthetic techniques, general anaesthesia combined with either opioid supplementation or triple nerve block (three in one block) with subcostal nerve block. The nerve blocks significantly reduced the quantity of opioid administered after operation; 48% of these patients required no additional analgesia in the first 24 hours. Plasma prilocaine levels in these patients were well below the toxic threshold, and peak absorption occurred 20 minutes after the injection. No untoward sequelae were associated with the nerve blocks.

The effect of dobutamine on middle cerebral artery blood velocity in volunteers: a preliminary study.

Five volunteers given dobutamine up to 4 micrograms/kg/min had significant increases in mean arterial blood pressure, systolic blood pressure, and stroke volume (P less than 0.05). Heart rate did not increase significantly. Pulsatility index, an index of middle cerebral artery maximum blood velocity waveform shape increased significantly in the dobutamine group (P less than 0.05). Time-averaged mean velocity did increase during the dobutamine infusion but the change was not statistically significant. Dobutamine significantly alters the blood velocity profile of the middle cerebral artery in volunteers even in low doses of 4 micrograms/kg/min. Transcranial Doppler may be a useful technique to monitor changes in cerebral artery blood velocity dynamics induced by dobutamine. These measurements can be performed easily and repeatedly at the bedside.