A simple intervention to reduce the anesthetic pharmacy budget; the effect of price list stickers placed on vaporizers

Study objective: The study objective is to investigate the effects of a simple price list sticker placed on vaporizers on anesthetic use and costs. The price list only showed the cost per hour of the annually most expensive drugs, which had a low-cost alternative.

Design: The design is a prospective database study with historical controls.

Setting: The setting is at operating rooms.

Patients: All patients are undergoing a surgical procedure under anesthesia in both study periods, except cardiothoracic and day care patients.

Interventions: The intervention is application of a price list sticker on the vaporizers.

Measurements: Monthly cost and amount of anesthetic agents used during the 9 months before and after the intervention.

Main results: Mier application of the price stickers, the use of both the annually most expensive agents and the anesthetic budget decreased substantially. Most notable was a decrease of 28% in the use of sevoflurane.

Conclusions: Price sticker on vaporizers may be an effective, simple, and cheap method to reduce anesthetic costs. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.