Cost comparison of re-usable and single-use fibrescopes in a large English teaching hospital.

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  • Author(s): McCahon RA;McCahon RA; Whynes DK; Whynes DK
  • Source:
    Anaesthesia [Anaesthesia] 2015 Jun; Vol. 70 (6), pp. 699-706. Date of Electronic Publication: 2015 Jan 31.
  • Publication Type:
    Comparative Study; Journal Article
  • Language:
    English
  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0370524 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1365-2044 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00032409 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Anaesthesia Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Publication: Oxford, UK : Wiley-Blackwell
      Original Publication: London, Academic Press; New York, Grune & Stratton.
    • Subject Terms:
      Disposable Equipment/*economics ; Equipment Reuse/*economics ; Fiber Optic Technology/*economics ; Fiber Optic Technology/*instrumentation ; Hospitals, Teaching/*economics ; Intubation, Intratracheal/*economics ; Intubation, Intratracheal/*instrumentation; Costs and Cost Analysis ; Disposable Equipment/statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Laryngoscopes ; Models, Economic ; Sterilization/economics ; United Kingdom
    • Abstract:
      A number of studies in the U.S.A. and mainland Europe have described the costs of fibreoptic tracheal intubation. However, no such data from the UK appear available. We performed a cost assessment of fibreoptic intubation, using re-usable (various devices from Olympus, Acutronic and Karl Storz) and single-use (Ambu aScope) fibrescopes, at the Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, U.K., between 1 January 2009 and 31 March 2014. The total annual cost of fibreoptic intubation with re-usable fibrescopes was £46,385. Based on 141 fibreoptic intubations per year, this equated to £329 per use, an average dominated by repair/maintenance costs (43%) and capital depreciation costs (42%). In comparison, the total annual cost of using single-use fibrescopes for the same work would have been around £200 per use. The analysis enabled us to develop a generic model, wherein we were able to describe the relationship between total cost of use vs number of uses for a fibrescope. An 'isopleth' was identified for this relationship: a line that joined all the points where the cost of re-usable vs single-use fibrescopes was equal. It appears cheaper to use single-use fibrescopes at up to 200 fibreoptic intubations per year (a range commensurate with normal practice) even when the repair rate for re-usable fibrescopes is low. Any centre, knowing its fibrescope use and repair rate, can plot its data similarly to help ascertain which of the re-usable or single-use fibrescope represents better value.
      (© 2015 The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland.)
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20150204 Date Completed: 20150721 Latest Revision: 20220408
    • Publication Date:
      20221213
    • Accession Number:
      10.1111/anae.13011
    • Accession Number:
      25644476