Average direct costs of outpatient, hospital, and home care provided to patients with chronic wounds.
Paula Buck de Oliveira Ruiz, Antônio Fernandes Costa Lima
PMID 36448569WHAT IT FOUND
Average direct cost per comprehensive chronic wound treatment, including dressings, nursing documentation, and medical consultations, was US$10.28.
Outpatient care US$4.25, hospital care US$3.87, home care US$3.47.
Key findings
01Average direct cost per comprehensive chronic wound treatment, combining dressings, Systematization of Nursing Care documentation, and medical consultations, was US$10.28.
02Outpatient care averaged US$4.25, hospital care US$3.87, and home care US$3.47, and the paper reports significant differences between these settings.
03In outpatient care, the average total dressing cost was US$7.76, with topical therapy US$5.98 and materials/solutions US$1.45.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The cost analysis comes from one Comprehensive Wound Care Unit in Brazil, so the numbers may not apply to other settings. Only 60 patients and 228 treatments/attendance were observed, despite a 2019 population of 5,241 treatments/services. The study was done during the Covid-19 pandemic, when some in-person medical consultations were cancelled, reduced, or replaced by telemedicine. Costs had very wide spread, including a hospital total average direct cost range from US$0.06 to US$199.58, so averages may not represent typical care. The paper did not compare patient outcomes, healing, complications, or quality of life, so cost differences do not show which care is clinically better. Total average direct cost combines dressings, Systematization of Nursing Care documentation, and medical consultations, so setting differences cannot be attributed to one component. Some text and table labels for hospital and home care costs appear inconsistent, making it hard to check exactly which observations formed each cost estimate.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that home care is cheaper, better, or more efficient. The total cost combines dressings, nursing documentation, and medical consultations, and the study did not compare patient outcomes or show which component caused the cost differences.