French ICU's health care workers have a poor knowledge of the cost of the devices they use for patient care: A prospective multicentric study

Paul Gabarre (1) , Pierre-Yves Boelle (2) , Naike Bigé (1) , Muriel Fartoukh (3, 4) , Christophe Guitton (5) , Guillaume Dumas (1, 3) , Jean-Rémi Lavillegrand (1, 3) , Geoffroy Hariri (1, 3) , Jean-Luc Baudel (1) , Daniel Zafimahazo (1) , Hafid Ait-Oufella (1, 3) , Eric Maury (2, 1)

1 CHU Saint-Antoine [AP-HP]
2 iPLESP - Institut Pierre Louis d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique
3 UPMC - Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6
4 CHU Tenon [AP-HP]
5 Centre Hospitalier Le Mans (CH Le Mans)

Purpose: ICU patient's care may require the use of onerous devices, which contributes to make this department one of the most expensive in the hospital. It seemed us relevant to assess healthcare workers' (HCWs) knowledge of the cost of the devices daily used in ICU. Materials and methods: An anonymous questionnaire was administered on a voluntary basis to HCWs of 3 ICUs. Measurements and main results: Cost estimations were expressed as percentage of the real cost; an estimation was considered correct if it was ±50% of the true price. 107 HCWs (66 physicians and 41 nurses and nurse aids) answered the survey. Only 29% of estimations were within 50% of the real cost. The prices of the cheapest devices were overestimated, while the costs of the most expensive ones were underestimated. In multivariate analysis, cost less than50 euros [OR = 3.2; CI 95%(1.6-6.3)], professional experience <10 years [OR = 1.5; CI 95%(1.1-2.1)], being a medical student [OR = 2.0; CI 95%(1.3-3.0)], and working in a university affiliated hospital [OR = 0.6; CI 95%(0.4-0.9)] were associated with an incorrect estimation. Conclusions: ICU's HCWs have a poor knowledge of the price of devices they regularly use for the care of their patients.

Mots clés: Cost awareness; Health care cost control; ICU's devices; Intensive care unit

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Paul Gabarre, Pierre-Yves Boelle, Naike Bigé, Muriel Fartoukh, Christophe Guitton, et al.. French ICU's health care workers have a poor knowledge of the cost of the devices they use for patient care: A prospective multicentric study. Journal of Critical Care, 2020, 56, pp.37 - 41. ⟨10.1016/j.jcrc.2019.12.003⟩. ⟨hal-03488851⟩