Study of length of stay and average cost of treatment in Medicine Intensive Care Unit at tertiary care center

Abstract

Introduction: In this era, health-care facilities have improved greatly which has increased the life expectancy of humanity, but all these costs and so the role of economic evaluations of health-care interventions has become increasingly important especially in developing countries like India. Objective: To estimate the expenses of a patient in Intensive Care Unit (ICU), disease wise expenditure and area of expenses (therapeutic and diagnostic). Materials and Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted in tertiary care hospital of private setup in Mumbai region. The inclusion criterion was admitted patients in medicine ICU (MICU) on the basis of the clinical presentation during January 2014–February 2014 (2 months). The cost of treatment included the bed charges in the hospital ICU, diagnostic cost (routine and special investigations), therapeutic cost, cost of oxygen, monitor, nebulization, ventilator, cost of drugs, and other consumables were assessed. Results: Totally fifty patients were admitted in above period to MICU. The average stay of a patient in MICU amounts to 4 days (approximated for 4.01) with the least being 1 day for unstable angina and maximum 11 days for congestive cardiac failure. Conclusion: The major shares of expenses in treatment in MICU were on medicines, and this can be reduced using generic drugs.