title: Economic consequences of hospital infections in a 1,000-bed university hospital in Norway.
abstract: Hospital infections were studied among 41,000 patients admitted to a 1,000-bed university hospital in Oslo, Norway. A prevalence rate of 8.5% in 1995 contributed to 14,500 days of extra stay in the hospital. The direct economic consequences of hospital infections was 40 to 50 million Norwegian kroner ($6-$7 million). The extra direct cost per infected patient was 14,300 Norwegian kroner ($2,200). Hospital infections are generating high extra costs and morbidity in countries with good general health care and with few problems with resistant bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Preventive Medicine, Department of Hospital Infections, Ullevål University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Andersen
mesh_terms: D003428:Cross Infection / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006746:Hospital Bed Capacity, 500 and over; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence