Cost containment in obstetric analgesia

Cost Containment in Europe

Health care cost containment is not in itself a sensible policy objective, because any assessment of the appropriateness of health care expenditure in aggregate, as of that on specific programs, requires a balancing of costs and benefits at the margin. International data on expenditures can, however, provide indications of the likely impact on costs and expenditures of structural features of he...

The Evolution of Obstetric Analgesia

Labour analgesia and obstetric outcomes.

Neuraxial analgesic techniques are the gold standards for pain relief during labour and delivery. Despite the increased use and known benefits of neuraxial labour analgesia, there has been significant controversy regarding the impact of neuraxial analgesia on labour outcomes. Review of the evidence suggests that effective neuraxial labour analgesia does not increase the rate of Caesarean delive...

Ropivacaine and bupivacaine in obstetric analgesia.

Studies comparing the efficacy of epidural analgesia for labour have been limited by lack of knowledge about the relative potencies of the involved agents, whether alone or in combination. Recently a clinical model to determine the minimum local analgesic concentration has been developed [1]. This study design estimated the minimum local analgesic concentration or median effective concentration...

Cost containment in eye care.

Voluntary eye hospitals committed to serving the community must understand the reality of cost escalation due to inflation, advancements in medical technology and changing expectations of staff and patients. However, these costs are often not matched by the patients’ paying capacity. While increasing income, through increased user fees or donations which are financial options that will be consi...