Accuracy and costs of bedside methods for confirming nasoenteral feeding tube position: a diagnostic accuracy study.

Aim: To analyze the accuracy and costs of bedside methods for confirming the position of a nasoenteral feeding tube newly inserted blindly by nurses.

Design: Diagnostic accuracy study of three clinical methods (ultrasound, epigastric auscultation, and pH measurement) compared to radiography. The direct costs of each method used to confirm the positioning of the nasoenteral tube were also measured.

Impact of a quality improvement programme on the preparation and administration of medications via a nasoenteral feeding tube: 2014-2019 intervention study.

Aims: Evaluate the impact of a quality improvement programme on the reduction of feeding tube obstruction frequencies, analyse the predictive variables of this safety incident, and estimate the economic costs related to the quality improvement programme during the period from 2014 to 2019.

Methods: Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles were performed to test the changes in drug preparation and administration processes via a nasoenteral feeding tube and to evaluate the outcome, process and balance measures. Statistical control charts were elaborated, and the bottom-up direct costing methodology was used to estimate the costs of the improvement programme.

Critical care nursing service costs: Comparison of the top-down versus bottom-up micro-costing approach in Brazil.

Aim: To estimate the nursing service costs using a top-down micro-costing approach and to compare it with a bottom-up micro-costing approach.

Background: Accurate data of nursing cost can contribute to reliable resource management.

Method: We employed a retrospective cohort design in an adult intensive care unit in São Paulo.

Accuracy of the combined method (auscultation and pH measurement) and ultrasonography for confirmation of gastric tube placement: a study protocol for a prospective study.

Introduction: Patients using a nasogastric tube (NGT) are vulnerable to adverse events, therefore proper assessment of these patients, verification of the correct tube placement and constant monitoring by the nursing staff are strategies that can reduce adverse events and risks associated with the care. The aim of this study will be to assess the accuracy of the combined method (auscultation and pH measurement) and ultrasonography for confirmation of gastric tube placement compared with the X-ray method. A further aim will be to measure and provide evidence for the direct costs of each method of confirming NGT placement and to evaluate the impact of each method on the mean direct cost of the patient.

Urgent need for standardised guidelines for reporting healthcare costs in ICUs - Results of an integrative review of costing methodologies.

Objectives: Diverse costing methodologies in critical care have produced discrepant results. We aimed to critically review studies addressing critical care patients' costs, to estimate total costs and cost categories and to delineate methodologies used and relevant limitations.

Methods: Integrative review based on key-word searches of electronic databases targeting primary studies that report estimates of patient cost, in the last 21 years.

[Evaluation of financial performance of health services: reflections of operational policies in the hospital sector].

Discussions about management manners and procedures has been relevant among organization managers in the health services. The health services economic evaluation approaches this theme and is taking an important role around the world, demanding the manager new challenges concerning the continuous search of activities efficiency and efficacy. The objective is to describe the consequences of operational changes in the economic-financial indicators of a Public Hospital.

[The influence of intellectual capital in performance evaluation: a case-study in the hospital sector].

This paper contributes to public institutions with the adaptation of a performance evaluation tool based on private companies. The objective is to demonstrate how the impact of an educational activity might be measured in the economic value added for the society of a public university hospital. The paper was divided in four parts, despite the introductory and methodological aspects and the final remarks.