Estimation of the economic cost of pressure ulcers prevention in a hospital unit
Pedro L. Pancorbo Hidalgo, Francisco Pedro García Fernández

SUMMARY

  Introduction: The treatment of the pressure ulcers supposes an important sanitary expense in Spain and in other countries. Many studies have established the cost for patient of the treatment of pressure ulcers as much in hospital as in extended care facilities. However they exist very few studies on the cost of the prevention.

  Objective: To establish the economic cost of the pressure ulcers prevention in patients admitted in a hospital.

  Material and methods: Retrospective research carried out in the unit of Internal Medicine in the Hospital University “Princesa de España” (Jaén, Spain) over data of the year 1998. Starting from the protocol of prevention it was calculated the unitary cost of the special surfaces and products of prevention (material cost) and the cost of nursing personal needful to carry out the preventive activities (cost of personal).

  Conclusions: The mean cost for patient of the preventive protocol was 21.76 € for a stay of 15.7 days. The mean cost for patient and day was 1.38 €. The economic cost of the prevention of pressure ulcers in patients with risk is lesser to that of the treatment of these ulcers once they have appeared. The investment in material means and in nursing personal for the prevention of the pressure ulcers is profitable, so much in economic terms as, mainly, in quality of care to the patients.

KEY WORDS

Pressure ulcer, prevention, economic cost.

Vol. 13 nº3-2002