Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Unfortunately, innovative devices will hardly ever be cheaper. They will, almost certainly, be
more expensive than the alternative. Hence you will need to provide evidence of cost benefit,
not just health outcome. This falls under the banner of health economics .
Health economics is a discipline unto itself. It is fraught with typical accountancy jargon and
quasi-scientific principles. However there are certain steps the average designer can undertake
without resorting to paying a health economist.
9.5.1 Distinct Health Benefits
Do you understand the real health benefits of your device? Have you explored how your
new device will affect the clinical community? How does the device benefit the end-user?
Sometimes benefits are direct, sometimes indirect. Table 9.6 attempts to illustrate these.
You must also consider to whom the benefit applies. For example a patient under general
anesthesia will have better morbidity outcomes, a clear benefit for the patient. However this
also impacts on the hospital's ratings (where deaths per procedure are normally counted); it
also reduces the cost of the procedure since less anesthesia has been used. This then has a
knock-on effect as the anesthetist is free to move onto the next procedure with greater ease.
From this example you can see that a simple benefit has a massive knock-on effect that can
snowball into a large overall benefit. Table 9.7 lists some benefits you may wish to consider.
This is by no means complete but it gives you an idea. Remember that your list of people who
benefit can expand as far as you wish, and you can drill down in detail (e.g., central sterilizing
department, scrub nurses, etc.)
Table 9.8 takes Table 9.7 and uses it to start to illustrate how the benefits may be exhibited. It
is important to note that the benefits need not be direct; they can be knock-on benefits.
Table 9.6: Examples of Direct Benefits Generating Further Indirect Benefits
Location
Direct
Indirect
Operating theater
Shorter operating time
- More ops per day
- Shorter GA duration (morbidity)
Operating theater
More predictable operation
duration
- Improved planning
- Higher utilization
Clinic
Faster clinical assessment
- More patients per clinic
- More time for clinician
Sterilization unit
Parts easy to identify
- Less chance of lost items
- Less chance of operation cancellation
- Better productivity
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