Image-guided surgery or neuronavigation has become an important part of the neurosurgical armamentarium in most centers around the world, primarily because it helps to improve patient safety and consistency of surgical results.1–5,8 However, these advantages come at the cost of increased health care and patient expenses. The disposable products used in image-guided surgery are often very costly...

BACKGROUND The medical costs for inpatients with coronary heart disease (CHD) have risen to unprecedented levels, putting tremendous financial pressure on their families and the entire society. The objective of this study was to examine the actual direct medical costs of inpatients with CHD and to analyze the influencing factors of those costs, to provide advice on the prevention and control of...

Microfluidic devices offer automation and high-throughput screening, and operate at low volumes of consumables. Although microfluidics has the potential to reduce turnaround times and costs for analytical devices, particularly in medical, veterinary, and environmental sciences, this enabling technology has had limited diffusion into consumer products. This article analyzes the microfluidics mar...

Our recent issue on “Equipment for eye care” (number 73, September 2010) addressed the importance of equipment in the delivery of eye care and covered maintenance, repair, training, purchasing, and donations. This issue (number 76) addresses similar concerns around surgical instruments and consumables. For an eye unit to function, instruments must be carefully managed so that they remain in goo...

Aim: Firstly, to quantify active healthcare professional (HCP) time and costs associated with subcutaneous (SC) administration of trastuzumab (Herceptin) compared with the standard intravenous infusion (IV) in the treatment of patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer within the adjuvant PrefHer trial setting; secondly, to measure patient time in the care unit and patient infusion chair t...

In the provision of health services, institutions should be perceived as an enterprise to use limited resources most effectively and efficiently, evaluate them optimally ensure production efficiency. Therefore, cost information enables efficient utilization in hospital enterprises allows managers decision-making mechanisms accurately. This study was conducted determine compare costs prolonged h...