Cost and benefit analysis of Surgenon-performed Point-of-Care Ultrasound (SP-POCUS) supporting decision making in a General Surgery Department
Informazioni aggiuntive
Autori
Pezzotta G.,
Masiero G.,
Malagnino A.,
Bozzo S.,
Carrara G.,
Brescacin A.,
Zago M.
Tipo
Articolo pubblicato in rivista scientifica
Anno
2024
Lingua
Inglese
Sommario
Background: There still is reluctance among surgeons when it comes to using bedside US in their daily clinical practice, except for very specific fields. Generally, the decision-making process relies on imaging techniques (e.g. CT, MRI). This may lead to a latency of execution, and consequently to a delay in decision making. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to assess the economic impact of systematic and routine use of surgeon-performed point-of-care US (SP-POCUS) in the everyday activities of a surgical department, both for urgent and elective cases. Methods: We conducted a cost-benefit analysis comparing the incremental costs and savings of diagnostic strategies based on alternative procedures to bedside US. The dataset refers to 478 SP-POCUS performed at the General Surgery Department of Policlinico San Pietro (Bergamo, Italy) between January 2018 and February 2020. The alternatives to SP-POCUS were computed tomography (CT), X-ray (RX), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and US performed by the Radiologist. Per-exam costs, including personnel time expenditure, were calculated. Results: The economic evaluation revealed that the use of SP-POCUS allowed the hospital to generate €355 net savings per patient, mainly from avoided hospitalizations, fewer hospital days and hours of operating room. Extrapolating these results to a wider scenario, in a similar setting they could have represented a potential annual savings of more than €1.1 million for the Regional healthcare system in Lombardy, and more than €5.7 millions for the whole NHS in Italy. Conclusions: We provided evidence that SP-POCUS may generate important costs savings for health care providers, as it represents the most cost-effective initial diagnostic procedure compared to standard alternatives. The wide applicability of SP-POCUS could be obtained at rather negligible costs for investment in staff training.
Parole chiave
SP-POCUS, Bedside US, Routinely use, Surgeon, Cost-benefit analysis, Costs, Benefits, Hospital stay, Hospitalization, Surgery
Periodico
Mecosan
Volume
129
Numero ( Mese )
Febbraio
Diffusione
Licenza
CC BY-NC-ND
Visibilità
Pubblico
Status open access
Gold
