Institute for Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Clin Infect Dis. 2010 Apr 1;50(7):1017-21. doi: 10.1086/651110.
Monetary valuations of the economic cost of health care-associated infections (HAIs) are important for decision making and should be estimated accurately. Erroneously high estimates of costs, designed to jolt decision makers into action, may do more harm than good in the struggle to attract funding for infection control. Expectations among policy makers might be raised, and then they are disappointed when the reduction in the number of HAIs does not yield the anticipated cost saving. For this article, we critically review the field and discuss 3 questions. Why measure the cost of an HAI? What outcome should be used to measure the cost of an HAI? What is the best method for making this measurement? The aim is to encourage researchers to collect and then disseminate information that accurately guides decisions about the economic value of expanding or changing current infection control activities.
医疗保健相关感染（HAI）的经济成本的货币评估对于决策很重要，并且应该准确估计。旨在促使决策者采取行动的成本过高估计，在为感染控制吸引资金的斗争中可能弊大于利。政策制定者的期望可能会提高，而当 HAI 数量的减少没有产生预期的节省成本时，他们就会感到失望。在本文中，我们批判性地审查了该领域，并讨论了 3 个问题。为什么要衡量 HAI 的成本？应该使用什么结果来衡量 HAI 的成本？进行此测量的最佳方法是什么？目的是鼓励研究人员收集信息，然后传播信息，这些信息可以准确指导有关扩大或改变当前感染控制活动的经济价值的决策。
