Calculating the cost of wound careHealthcare professionals typically use health economic analyses to back up their decision to introduce a new kind of treatment. Being more effective, a new treatment may raise the quality of life for patients and, at the same time, allow healthcare authorities to provide more care for the same budget
When it comes to wound care, all dressings aim to secure two health benefits for all wound care patients: complete healing and improved quality of life.
Calculating the cost of treatment
For example, a health economic analysis on the treatment of pressure ulcers takes into account all the products used, and estimates the time spent caring for the patient. To calculate the total cost of wound closure, the analysis collects information on: - the cost of dressings and appliances used when changing dressings
- the number of dressing changes
- time spent by nurses on dressing changes
- length of treatment before the wound has healed
Table 11 | | | 12cmx12cm
Biatain
Adhesive | 11cmx11cm
Tielle | Unit cost
for dressing
and appliances | Adhesive foam
dressing | £2.38* | £2.33* | Two pairs of
gloves | £0.11 | £0.11 | | Two plastic bags | £0.05 | £0.05 | Wound care set
(Readyfield) | £0.60 | £0.60 | Cost of
nursing
time | Staff nurse day ward
(30 minutes) | £13.50 | £13.50 | | Total cost per dressing change | £16,64 | £16.59 |
* Prices are updated according to NHS Drug Tariff, October 2008.
Table 21 | | 12cmx12cm
Biatain
Adhesive | 11cmx11cm,
Tielle | Average number of dressing
changes per week | 2.0 | 1.8 | | Total cost per week | £33.28 | £29.86 | | Cost per day of treatment | £4.75 | £4.27 | | Average time for healing | 36 days | 42 days | Estimated total direct costs of
Complete healing | £171 | £179 |
Biatain – the cost-effective solution
Table 1 shows that the cost of a Biatain Adhesive dressing is higher than a Tielle dressing – but it also shows that the cost of dressings is only a small amount of the total cost of treatment.
Even though the Biatain Adhesive dressing is more expensive than the Tielle dressing, the total cost of healing a pressure wound with Biatain Adhesive is less, as Table 2 demonstrates. This allows us to conclude that using Biatain Adhesive for treating pressure ulcers is the most cost-effective course of treatment.
Find out more about Biatain Adhesive dressings
References
| 1 Bale, S., Hahn, T.W., Gade, P. Time to healing and HRQoL in the treatment of pressure ulcers with foam dressings. Presented at the 12th Conference of the European Wound Management Association May 2002 | |
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