Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Hemant Sule
Presented to
In Partial fulfillment of
School of Nursing
3/9/2009
Finding Answers to 2
Cost analysis methods needs to be considered when making certain clinical decisions. In
this article the authors Suzanne Beyea and Leslie Nicoll who are AORN coordinators of
perioperative research, have discussed the cost benefit analysis as an approach for answering
questions related to costs, effectiveness, benefits, quality, and outcomes. It is true that cost
benefit analysis cannot be used in all clinical situations but the rising cost of healthcare today is
the driving force in clinical decision making. The process of formulating a diagnosis is called
clinical decision making. Cost analysis in health care is a process that evaluates costs related to a
specific clinical process or event. The main purpose of the cost analysis is to determine the
resource allocation. In this article, the authors have effectively discussed four basic approaches or
types of cost analysis, which are costbenefit analysis, costeffective analysis, costminimization
and costutility analysis. The authors have discussed six principles for cost analysis which
provide a guiding framework. Cost analysis does not provide answers to all questions but it serves
a useful purpose in many difficult situations. Health care providers and also as consumers, cost
analysis methods need to be considered when making a certain clinical decision.
In today’s’ downstream economy the idea of cost analysis is applied to every aspect of life,
especially in clinical setting when we need to make a clinical decision. I firmly believe that the
key idea behind the cost analysis is controlling the expenses, yet providing the best possible care.
Not everyone involved is familiar with the complexity and diversity of the methods used.
Finding Answers to 3
Simplifying the process is the key to understand cost analysis. Every aspect of health care cannot
be transformed in monetary terms. Additional and unexpected costs should be kept in mind as
buffer when calculating long term health care costs. For example, we must consider cost of health
care when keeping someone alive on life support while making a clinical decision. Is there going
to be a viable outcome or what would be the quality of life afterwards etc. The key ideas
presented are sound and reasonable. I agree with the authors because according to costbenefit
analysis approach personal wellbeing or prevention of complications cannot be assigned a
monetary value and in addition to that we will face an ethical dilemma in assigning a monetary
figure to a human life, illness, disability, and death. Furthermore the future costs of medical or
nursing treatments or cost of medications cannot be accurately predicted. According to cost
effective analysis various interventions are tested in relations to specific health outcomes e.g.
prescribing a generic medicine instead of a brand name medicine. Recently, at Presbyterian
hospital, I saw an example of cost analysis. Tegaderm dressings were replaced with sterile 2x2
gauze dressings which resulted in one dollar reduction per cost of IV site dressing. Almost 200
IVs are done daily in emergency room alone. That is saving of 200 dollars a day and a huge
73000 dollars a year. Double lumen IV extensions were replaced with single lumen reducing the
cost by 89 cents. That is a saving of 65000 dollars a year for the emergency room. Small things
like this can make a difference in overall costs of hospital expenditure and can help save some
jobs, recruit at least two more nurses or purchase of some new equipments for better serving the
patients. Cost analysis is an important aspect of clinical decision making and it has to be
Finding Answers to 4
considered carefully along with the ethical and moral issues involved in extending health care.
Everything cannot be measured in terms of money, yet it can make all the difference in
someone’s life.
References
Beyea, S., Nicoll, L. (1999). Finding answers to questions using cost analysis. AORN JOURNAL,
70, 128130.