title: The hospital cost of road traffic accidents at a South African regional trauma centre: a micro-costing study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Road traffic crashes are responsible for a vast amount of death and disability in developing countries. This study uses a bottom up, micro-costing approach to determine the cost of road traffic related crashes in South Africa.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using the data from one hundred consecutive RTC related admissions to a regional hospital in South Africa we performed a bottom up costing study. To calculate costs patients were reviewed every 48 h and all interventions were recorded for each individual patient. Prices of interventions were obtained from hospital pricelists. A total cost was calculated on an individual basis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total cost of in-patient care for these patients was US $6,98,850. Upper limb injuries were the most expensive, and the total cost increased with the number of body regions injured. The biggest expenditure was on ward overheads ($2,81,681). Ninety operations were performed - the total cost of theatre time was $1,48,230 and the cost of orthopaedic implants was $1,26,487.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The cost of care of a RTC victim is significant. In light of the high numbers of RTC victims admitted over the course of the year this is a significant cost burden for a regional hospital to bear. This cost must be taken into account when allocating hospital budgets.
authors.affiliation: Edendale Hospital, Pietermaritzburg, P/Bag X509, Plessislaer 3216, South Africa; Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Electronic address: franparkinson@hotmail.co.uk.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Parkinson
authors.forename: S J W
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kent
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aldous
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Oosthuizen
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Clarke
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000191:economics*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017721:Hospital Costs; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D014193:Trauma Centers / Q000191:economics*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Bottom-up costing; Cost; Developing country; Micro-costing; Road traffic crashes