Cost of Acute Burn Care in Tertiary Burn Care Center

Plastic Surgery

Introduction Burn injuries are a global health problem with the majority of them occurring in middle and low-income countries, having a major financial impact on the burn victim, their families, and society. Treatment of burns is known to be resource-intensive. Studies related to the cost of burn treatment in developing countries are few. Objective To find the mean cost of inpatient acute burn care in a tertiary Hospital. Methodology A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted after obtaining approval from the Institutional Review Committee. The study was carried out over six months, from July 1 to December 31, 2018, in the Department of Plastic Surgery at Kiritpur Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal. A total of 42 patients admitted with burn injuries fitting the inclusion criteria were included in this study after obtaining informed consent from the participant’s parents or guardians. Demographic data and the history of injury were collected from the participants’ guardians, while data related to expenses were gathered from participants’ financial sheets. Data were categorized and computed for frequency, mean, and standard deviation. Effect modifiers like age, gender, cause, extent, depth of burn, and wound bacteriology were stratified, and the association with mean cost was calculated using the T-test. Result Of the 42 participants in the study, the mean cost per patient was Rs. 132,504.67 (USD 1,174.04). The mean cost per percent of TBSA was Rs. 11,840 (USD 104.40), the cost per day per patient was Rs. 7,009.13 (USD 61.80), and the cost per percent of TBSA per day was Rs. 609.66 (USD 5.38). Conclusion The mean cost of medication and equipment was the most expensive component of inpatient acute burn care.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.