[Quality evaluation of economic studies for medical safety management]

In recent years, medical safety has become a great concern to Japanese citizens. Many healthcare programs have been introduced in consequence, and beneficial effects have been repeatedly confirmed. However, hospitals need to make considerable investments for such programs and it is often difficult for healthcare administrators to judge which program should be given priority under budgetary constraints.

The purposes of this study were to review original articles on economic evaluation of medical safety management, to evaluate their quality levels, and to offer information for judgment by decision makers.

Using criteria including full economic evaluation we searched for original articles in the following electronic databases: MEDLINE; the Cochrane Library; the NHS Economic Evaluation Database 2005; and the Ichushi website. Then, we evaluated the quality of the economic studies found using the check list established by Drummond and others (1997).

Five papers met the inclusion criteria. Three covered infection control, one adverse drug events and one blood transfusions.

Economic evaluation of medical safety management has not been fully demonstrated. Cost-effectiveness of medical safety management has not been fully elucidated. It is necessary to perform economic studies of medical safety management, evaluate quality, and provide information useful for medical decision making.