A material cost-minimization analysis for hernia repairs and minor procedures during a surgical mission in the Dominican Republic.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Expenditures on material supplies and medications constitute the greatest per capita costs for surgical missions. We hypothesized that supply acquisition at non-profit organization (NPO) costs would lead to significant cost-savings compared with supply acquisition at US academic institution costs from the provider perspective for hernia repairs and minor procedures during a surgical mission in the Dominican Republic.

Methods

Items acquired for a surgical mission were uniquely QR-coded for accurate consumption accounting. Both NPO and US academic institution unit costs were associated with each item in an electronic inventory system. Medication doses were recorded and QR codes for consumed items were scanned into a record for each sampled procedure. Mean material

SUBMITTER: Cavallo JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3943836 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature