Caracterização da utilização de cateteres venosos periféricos em unidade clínica de um hospital universitário / Characterization of the use of peripheral venous catheters in a clinical unit of university hospital

Objetivo: descrever características sociodemográficas e clínicas relacionadas ao uso dos cateteres venosos periféricos em pacientes de uma unidade clínica hospitalar. Método: descritivo, quantitativo, realizado em um Hospital Universitário do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, com 50 pacientes em uso de dispositivo intravenoso periférico, de maio a julho de 2018 e de julho a setembro de 2019. Utilizou-se um formulário sobre o perfil dos pacientes e o processo de cateterização venoso. A análise foi por estatística descritiva. Resultados: predomínio de idosas, com diagnóstico relacionado ao sistema imunológico. Ocorreram 148 punções, com média de 2,7 por paciente. O tempo de permanência variou de menos de 24 horas a sete dias. A remoção dos cateteres foi eletiva seguida de complicações, como obstrução e flebite. Conclusão: o cuidado de enfermagem relacionado à terapia intravenosa é um desafio na instituição, revelando a necessidade de investimentos em educação continuada e permanente.

The cost of hydrocephalus: a cost-effectiveness model for evaluating surgical techniques

OBJECTIVEMany studies have aimed to determine the most clinically effective surgical intervention for hydrocephalus. However, the costs associated with each treatment option are poorly understood. In this study, the authors conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis, calculating the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of ventriculoperitoneal shunting (VPS), endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV), and ETV with choroid plexus cauterization (ETV/CPC) in an effort to better understand the clinical effectiveness and costs associated with treating hydrocephalus.METHODSThe study cohort includes patients under the age of 18 who were initially treated for hydrocephalus between January 2012 and January 2015 at the authors’ institution. Overall treatment costs were calculated using patient-level hospitalization costs and professional fees reimbursable to the hospital and directly related to the initial and follow-up (postoperative day 1 to 12 months) treatment of hydrocephalus. TreeAge Pro was used to conduct the cost-effectiveness analyses.RESULTSA total of 147 patients were identified. Based on the initial intervention for hydrocephalus, their cases were classified as follows: 113 VPS, 14 ETV, and 20 ETV/CPC. During the initial intervention, VPS patients required a longer length of stay at 5.6 days, compared to ETV/CPC (3.35 days) and ETV (2.36 days) patients. Failure rates for all treatment options ranged from 29% to 45%, leading to recurrent hydrocephalus and additional surgical intervention between postoperative day 1 and 12 months. Cost-effectiveness analyses found ETV to be less costly and more clinically effective, with an ICER of $94,797 compared to VPS ($130,839) and ETV/CPC ($126,394). However, when stratified by etiology, VPS was found to be more clinically effective and cost-effective in both the myelomeningocele and posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus patient groups with an incremental cost per clinical unit of effectiveness (success or failure of intervention) of $76,620 compared to ETV and ETV/CPC. However, when assessing cases categorized as “other etiologies,” ETV was found to be more cost-effective per clinical unit, with an ICER of $60,061 compared to ETV/CPC ($93,350) and VPS ($142,135).CONCLUSIONSThis study is one of the first attempts at quantifying the patient-level hospitalization costs associated with surgical management of hydrocephalus in pediatric patients treated in the United States. The results indicate that the conversation regarding CSF diversion techniques must be patient-specific and consider etiology as well as any previous surgical intervention. Again, these findings are short-run observations, and a long-term follow-up study should be conducted to assess the cost of treating hydrocephalus over the lifetime of a patient.