IMPACT OF HOSPITAL-ACQUIRED INFECTION ON MEDICAL EXPENDITURES IN GERIATRIC REHABILITY CARE

The costs of medical expenditures such as drugs, medical devices (MD), biological assays and nurses workload, were measured, before and afte r the onset of nosocomial infection (NI), in rehabilitation care depar tments of a 1000-beds geriatric teaching hospital. Data were collected retrospectively in medical records and nursing records. Nurse's workl oad was measured by the french indicator << Soins Infirmiers Personnal ise a la Personne Soignee>> (SIIPS). A week before and a week after th e diagnosis of hospital-acquired infection? medical consumptions were compared. During the study 38 of the 206 patients admitted in rehabili tation care wards presented hospital-acquired infection. Data were col lected for 31 of these 38 patients. Nosocomial infections are associat ed with an increased pharmaceutical depense : medication (mainly antib iotics) and medical device's cost; and an increased nurse's workload. This study suggests that infection surveillance may be helpful to a be tter understanding of pharmaceutical depense's variation in geriatric rehabilitation care departments.