IMPROVED EFFICIENCY AND REDUCED COSTS DURING INFUSION THERAPY WITH PREMIXED PREPARATIONS COMPARED TO FREEZE-DRYING POWDER

Background: An excessive medical expenditure is becoming a main barrier to good health for several people in China. Hence, there is a need to control this rising medical cost to reduce the financial burden placed on family and society in general.

Objective: Our aim was to understand the expenses incurred during the use of two forms of infusion therapy- the premixed preparations and the freeze-drying powder forms and help select a safe and in-expensive route.

Methods: The study was based on a drug named Metronidazole which comes in both the forms mentioned above and which is being successfully used for years in Chinese hospitals. Various parameters were taken into consideration to determine the costs involved during the treatment such as the actual price of the drug, duration of the treatment, the preparation costs, labor charges, materials involved in the preparation, medical waste disposal, equipment and maintenance expenses, size of the hospital and the energy costs.

Results: Overall, our results revealed that premixed form of Metronidazole is not just a safe intravenous delivery system with negligible error rate but also the most inexpensive method of infusion therapy in small and medium hospital settings, reducing the cost of treatment to 68% over admixed preparation.

Conclusions: Given the considerable cost saving, it might be quite meaningful for the healthcare system to develop and apply premixed systems for intravenous medications, especially for small and medium hospitals.