Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Foreword
- Abbreviations
- SECTION 1 Admission to Critical Care
- SECTION 2 General Considerations in Cardiothoracic Critical Care
- SECTION 3 System Management in Cardiothoracic Critical Care
- SECTION 4 Procedure-Specific Care in Cardiothoracic Critical Care
- SECTION 5 Discharge and Follow-up From Cardiothoracic Critical Care
- SECTION 6 Structure and Organisation in Cardiothoracic Critical Care
- 62 Cardiothoracic critical care nursing
- 63 Physiotherapy
- 64 Clinical pharmacy
- 65 Evidence-based design of the cardiothoracic critical care
- 66 Clinical information systems
- 67 Resource management
- 68 Education and training in cardiothoracic critical care in the United Kingdom
- SECTION 7 Ethics, Legal Issues and Research in Cardiothoracic Critical Care
- Appendix Works Cited
- Index
67 - Resource management
from SECTION 6 - Structure and Organisation in Cardiothoracic Critical Care
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Foreword
- Abbreviations
- SECTION 1 Admission to Critical Care
- SECTION 2 General Considerations in Cardiothoracic Critical Care
- SECTION 3 System Management in Cardiothoracic Critical Care
- SECTION 4 Procedure-Specific Care in Cardiothoracic Critical Care
- SECTION 5 Discharge and Follow-up From Cardiothoracic Critical Care
- SECTION 6 Structure and Organisation in Cardiothoracic Critical Care
- 62 Cardiothoracic critical care nursing
- 63 Physiotherapy
- 64 Clinical pharmacy
- 65 Evidence-based design of the cardiothoracic critical care
- 66 Clinical information systems
- 67 Resource management
- 68 Education and training in cardiothoracic critical care in the United Kingdom
- SECTION 7 Ethics, Legal Issues and Research in Cardiothoracic Critical Care
- Appendix Works Cited
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Cardiac surgery and cardiac critical care are expensive endeavours. Intraoperative costs of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and cardiac valve operations are among the highest when compared with other surgical procedures. Once the surgical procedure has finished, the costs continue to rise because of the expensive postoperative care provided in the critical care unit. Although the proportionate use of CABG to treat coronary artery disease is declining owing to increasing numbers of percutaneous coronary interventions, there are still many cardiac surgical operations performed each year worldwide. The profile of patients presenting has changed, and cardiac surgery is increasingly performed on elderly patients with extensive coronary artery disease and numerous medical comorbidities. These patients can be expected to have lengthier recovery periods and an increased chance of postoperative complications, further increasing costs.
Coinciding with the high demand for cardiac surgical procedures and critical care are institutional and societal pressures to contain costs within the health care arena. The motto of health care management since the 1990s has been to ‘do more with less.’ The aim is therefore to attain the best possible combination of excellent clinical outcomes, patient safety and cost containment.
Factors influencing the cost of cardiac surgery
The strongest predictors of cost for cardiac surgical patients are:
hospital length of stay (LOS);
critical care LOS;
operating room time;
patient age; and
postoperative complications (such as sternal wound infection, respiratory failure, left ventricular failure, and death).
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- Information
- Core Topics in Cardiothoracic Critical Care , pp. 480 - 484Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
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