Background: Hospital-acquired infections are one of the most frequent adverse events among patients receiving healthcare. Reusable electroencephalography cup electrodes (EEG-CE) pose a risk of infection due to cross-contamination, which can be eliminated by replacing reusable EEG-CE with single-use EEG-CE.
Objective: The objective was to investigate the cost effectiveness of using single-use EEG-CE instead of reusable EEG-CE when the risk of sepsis is considered.
Methods: A cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted, using a decision analytic model to assess the potential effects and costs of using single-use EEG-CE as an alternative to reusable EEG-CE. The cost data regarding the reusable EEG-CE were assessed through interviews with four hospitals. To identify the risk of sepsis, a retrospective observational cohort study was conducted using data from Truven Health Analytics, with a total of 73,834 patients analyzed in the USA during 1 February 2014 through 15 December 2014. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) was conducted to test the impact of the variables simultaneously and the robustness of the result.
Results: The incidence of sepsis was 33 cases per 100,000 EEG procedures. The acquisition and reprocessing costs of reusable EEG-CE were $US3.25 and $US5.57, respectively. The base-case analysis showed that single-use EEG-CE are cost effective compared with reusable EEG-CE, although the decision was not robust, with the PSA showing that 40% of the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios indicated that single-use EEG-CE were more effective but more expensive.
Conclusion: This study indicates single-use EEG-CE are associated with cost savings and a possible reduction in the risk of cross-contamination.