title: The Lowbury Lecture. The economics of nosocomial infections.
abstract: A simple model of the costs and benefits of an infection control programme is presented. Liberal costs and conservative benefits were assumed. The concepts of crude and attributable mortality were applied to examine the cost per life year saved if a minority of infection-related deaths were prevented. An effective infection control programme is one of the most cost-beneficial medical interventions available in modern public health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond 23298, USA.
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Wenzel
mesh_terms: D017046:Cost Savings; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000191:economics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control; D017721:Hospital Costs; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000191:economics*; D018803:Models, Economic; D009017:Morbidity; D015397:Program Evaluation; D026712:Value of Life; D014768:Virginia / Q000453:epidemiology