Early modelling of the effects and healthcare costs of the Dutch citizen-rescuer system for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.

Objectives: 1) to analyse the total average healthcare costs of a patient with an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), as well as estimating the operational costs of the citizen-rescuer system (CRS); 2) to conduct an early modelling of the effects and healthcare costs of the Dutch CRS in comparison to no CRS.

Methods: A health economic modelling study was conducted. Adult patients with OHCA from cardiac causes in the province of Limburg (the Netherlands) were included.

Is Procalcitonin Biomarker-Guided Antibiotic Therapy a Cost-Effective Approach to Reduce Antibiotic Resistant and Clostridium difficile Infections in Hospitalized Patients?

Antibiotics (AB) can reduce morbidity and mortality in the treatment of patients with sepsis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations. Yet, AB overuse or misuse increases antibiotic resistance (ABR) and Clostridium difficile infections (CDI). This study projected the expected impact of a procalcitonin (PCT) biomarker testing strategy on incremental ABR cases and CDI, and costs of care in a population of patients hospitalized with suspected sepsis or a COPD exacerbation, in three European countries: the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands.