title: [Direct cost of connecting, maintaining and disconnecting patient-controlled analgesia pump].
abstract: Quantitative research that aimed to identify the mean total cost (MTC) of connecting, maintaining and disconnecting patient-controlled analgesia pump (PCA) in the management of pain. The non-probabilistic sample corresponded to the observation of 81 procedures in 17 units of the Central Institute of the Clinics Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sao Paulo. We calculated the MTC multiplying by the time spent by nurses at a unit cost of direct labor, adding the cost of materials and medications/solutions. The MTC of connecting was R$ 107.91; maintenance R$ 110.55 and disconnecting R$ 4.94. The results found will subsidize discussions about the need to transfer money from the Unified Health System to hospitals units that perform this technique of analgesic therapy and it will contribute to the cost management aimed at making efficient and effective decision-making in the allocation of available resources.
authors.affiliation: University of Sao Paulo, Faculty of Medicine, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Áquila Lopes
authors.initials: ÁL
authors.lastname: Gouvêa
authors.affiliation: University of Sao Paulo, School of Nursing, Sao Paulo, Brazil, tonifer@usp.br.
authors.forename: Antônio Fernandes Costa
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Lima
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016058:Analgesia, Patient-Controlled / Q000191:economics* / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000451:nursing*; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged