Making the economic case for nursing innovations: horses for courses

Area of Science:

• Health Economics
• Nursing Practice
• Economic Evaluation Methods

Background:

• Economic assessments are crucial in healthcare decision-making.
• Understanding cost and benefit valuation is essential for nurses.
• Various methodologies exist for economic evaluations in nursing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline common economic assessment techniques relevant to nursing.
• To guide nurses in selecting appropriate methods for evaluating healthcare interventions.
• To emphasize the context-dependent nature of economic evaluation approaches.

Main Methods:

• Review of established economic assessment techniques.
• Description of methods for quantifying costs in monetary terms.
• Explanation of diverse approaches for benefit valuation.

Main Results:

• Costs are consistently expressed in monetary terms.
• Benefit valuation methods vary significantly based on the chosen approach.
• No single economic assessment method is universally superior.

Conclusions:

• The selection of an economic assessment approach should be pragmatic and purpose-driven.
• Nurses can utilize various techniques for economic evaluations.
• Effective economic assessment in nursing requires careful consideration of context and objectives.