Related Experiment Videos
Day-care versus inpatient pediatric surgery: a comparison of costs incurred by parents
Insights
Day-care pediatric surgery is more cost-effective for families than inpatient procedures, significantly reducing parental time and financial burdens. This approach offers a more efficient model for pediatric surgical care.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Surgery
- Health Economics
- Family Medicine
Background:
- Day-care surgery offers potential cost savings for families compared to traditional inpatient procedures.
- Assessing the true cost-effectiveness requires evaluating both time and financial expenditures for parents.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the cost-effectiveness for parents of day-care pediatric surgery versus inpatient pediatric surgery.
- To analyze time and financial costs incurred by families for two distinct surgical procedures.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of time and financial costs for two pediatric surgical procedures: squint repair (day-care) and adenoidectomy (inpatient).
- Data collected from 165 families whose children underwent surgery between February and July 1981.
- Inclusion of parental time spent and out-of-pocket expenses.
Main Results:
- Day-care surgery incurred average total time costs of 16.1 hours, significantly less than the 37.1 hours for inpatient surgery.
- Out-of-town parents faced higher time and financial costs.
- Maternal employment in professional or managerial roles correlated with income loss, suggesting potential gender disparities in leave policies.
Conclusions:
- Day-care pediatric surgery is a cost-effective option for families, reducing overall time and financial burdens.
- Consideration of weekend day-care surgery facilities could further alleviate financial stress for working mothers.
- Further investigation into equitable leave policies for parents is warranted.
Abstract:
The cost-effectiveness for parents of day-care pediatric surgery was assessed by comparing time and financial costs associated with two surgical procedures, one (squint repair) performed exclusively as a day-care procedure, the other (adenoidectomy) performed exclusively as an inpatient procedure. All but 1 of 165 eligible families participated. The children underwent surgery between February and July 1981. The day-care surgery group (59 families) incurred average total time costs of 16.1 hours, compared with 37.1 hours for the inpatient surgery group (105 families), as parents in the latter group remained with their child during the longer hospital stay. Parents from out of town incurred the greater time and financial costs. In both groups parents of younger children tended to spend more time at the hospital than parents of older children. Type of surgical management was not a significant factor in out-of-pocket expenses. Loss of income was associated with employment of the mother as a professional or a manager and may reflect inequalities in access to compassionate leave between men and women in equivalent positions. Opening day-care surgery facilities on weekends might reduce the financial burden on working mothers. Overall, day-care surgery was found to be cost-effective for families.