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: After application of the price stickers, the use of both the annuallymost expensive agents and the anesthetic budget decreased substantially. Most notable was a decrease of 28% in the use of sevoflurane. Conclusions: Price sticker on vaporizersmay be an effective, simple, and cheapmethod to reduce anesthetic costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]