• Burns · Nov 2021

    The cost of inpatient burn management in Nepal.

    • Ak Narayan Poudel, Patricia Price, Julia Lowin, Rojina Shilpakar, Kiran Nakarmi, and Tom Potokar.
    • Swansea Centre for Health Economics, Swansea University, Wales, UK; Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, England, UK. Electronic address: anp13@leicester.ac.uk.
    • Burns. 2021 Nov 1; 47 (7): 1675-1682.

    IntroductionThe management of burns is costly and complex with inpatient burns accounting for a high proportion of the costs associated with burn care. We conducted a study to estimate the cost of inpatient burn management in Nepal. Our objectives were to identify the resource and cost components of the inpatient burn care pathways and to estimate direct and overhead costs in two specialist burn units in tertiary hospitals in Nepal.MethodsWe conducted fieldwork at two tertiary hospitals to identify the cost of burns management in a specialist setting. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) with burn experts; unit cost data was collected from hospital finance departments, laboratories and pharmacies. The study focused on acute inpatient burn cases admitted to specialist burn centres within a hospital-setting.ResultsExperts divided inpatient burn care pathways into three categories: superficial partial-thickness burns (SPT), mixed depth partial-thickness burns (MDPT) and full thickness burns (FT). These pathways were confirmed in the FGDs. A 'typical' burns patient was identified for each pathway. Total resource use and total direct costs along with overhead costs were estimated for acute inpatient burn patients. The average per patient pathway costs were estimated at NRs 102,194 (US$ 896.4), NRs 196,666 (US$ 1725), NRs 481,951 (US$ 4,227.6) for SPT, MDPT and FT patients respectively. The largest cost contributors were surgery, dressings and bed charges respectively.ConclusionThis study is a first step towards a comprehensive estimate of the costs of severe burns in Nepal.Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

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