A cost-effectiveness analysis comparing a clinical decision rule versus usual care to risk stratify children for intraabdominal injury after blunt torso trauma.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Recently a clinical decision rule (CDR) to identify children at very low risk for intraabdominal injury needing acute intervention (IAI) following blunt torso trauma was developed. Potential benefits of a CDR include more appropriate abdominal computed tomography (CT) use and decreased hospital costs. The objective of this study was to compare the cost-effectiveness of implementing the CDR compared to usual care for the evaluation of children with blunt torso trauma. The hypothesis was that compared to usual care, implementation of the CDR would result in lower CT use and hospital costs.

Methods

A cost-effectiveness decision analytic model was constructed comparing the costs and outcomes of implementation of the CDR to usual care in the evaluation of children with

SUBMITTER: Nishijima DK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3930144 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature