Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the level of cost awareness of drugs and devices among intensive care unit (ICU) doctors with variable levels of experience (senior intensivists, junior intensivists, residents). Design: Interview-questionnaire. Setting: ICU of the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. Participants: 60 ICU doctors (40 specialists in anaesthesia and intensive care, 20 residents). Measurements and results: The estimated prices of drugs and devices were compared with the correct prices; responses within a range ± 20 % of the true price were arbitrarily considered correct; all the subgroups of doctors made inaccurate estimates of the prices, showing an absence of any impact of professional experience of cost awareness. Conclusion: The doctors in the study showed a high level of inacurrate cost awareness of drugs and devices.
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Received: 3 December 1997 Accepted: 24 August 1998
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Conti, G., Dell'Utri, D., Pelaia, P. et al. Do we know the costs of what we prescribe? . Intensive Care Med 24, 1194–1198 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s001340050744
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s001340050744