[Level of information on prices in an anesthesia department]

The rationalization of health care spending has high priority in these times of economic difficulty. Anesthesiologists can contribute to more efficient use of resources and therefore must be well aware of the cost of the products they use. This study aims to evaluate their knowledge of the cost of commonly used products. Seventy-eight anesthesiologists with varying levels of experience and from different levels in the hierarchy were questioned about the cost of 20 products, drugs and disposable items commonly used in their work. The physicians were within 50% of the real price of 4 of the 11 drugs studied and were 100% right about 3 drugs. The respondents were 100% correct about 2 of the disposable items studied but did not give estimates within 50% of real cost for any of the remaining 7 items. Neither position in the hierarchy nor years of experience was related to degree of correctness in pricing the products studied. Awareness of the prices of commonly used products, particularly of disposable material, was low in the population of anesthesiologists studied.