A prospective audit of cost of sedation, analgesia and neuromuscular blockade in a large British ICU

1365-2044

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Medicine

Bottom-up costs of sedative, analgesic and neuromuscular blocking drugs used in the intensive care unit have not been reported. We performed a prospective audit of the cost of these drugs using a bottom-up approach by prospectively recording the daily amount of drugs administered to patients over a 3-month period. Of 172 admissions, complete data were collected for 155 (92%). Propofol and alfentanil were the drugs most commonly used, being administered to 136 (88%) and 106 (68%) patients, respectively. The total cost was £14 070, which was 81% of the pharmacy figure (based on central purchasing). Ninety-four per cent of the cost was for drugs administered to the 50% of patients who stayed in the intensive care unit longer than 48 h. The median (interquartile range [range]) cost per day was £9.30 (3.60–20.10 [0–61.20]). This represents less than 1% of reported total daily cost of intensive care per patient.

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