Total staff costs to implement a decision support system in nursing.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Nursing Management
• Health Economics

Background:

• Implementing decision support systems (DSS) in healthcare requires careful cost analysis.
• Understanding direct labor (DL) costs is crucial for resource allocation in hospital projects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the direct labor (DL) costs associated with implementing a decision support system (DSS) in nursing at the University Hospital of the University of São Paulo (HU-USP).

Main Methods:

• The study mapped the DSS development into four sub-processes: Conception, Elaboration, Construction, and Transition.
• Direct labor costs were calculated by determining the hourly wage per professional category, factoring in salaries, additional remuneration, fees, and social charges, and multiplying by time spent on each activity.

Main Results:

• The total direct labor (DL) cost for the DSS implementation was R$ 752,618.56.
• External funding accounted for R$ 26,000.00 (3.45%), while hospital and university resources covered the remaining R$ 726,618.56 (96.55%).
• Staff wages from the informatics consulting company represented 72.1% of the total DL cost, with 27.9% attributed to HU-USP professionals.

Conclusions:

• The implementation of the nursing DSS at HU-USP involved significant direct labor costs, primarily funded internally.
• The majority of the direct labor expenditure was associated with the informatics consulting company's staff.
• Accurate cost assessment is vital for the successful integration of health information technology in clinical settings.