A Cost Comparison of Two Systems for the Intermittent Intravenous Administration of Small Volume Parenterals

The decision-making process of a hospital pharmacy administrator include the determination of the most advantageous mean by which intravenously administered drugs may be prepared and distributed. Systems to accomplish the have become increasingly more efficient, less hazardous to the patient, but more costly to the Department of Pharmacy Services. these increases in costs have been passed on to the patient, and subsequently to third party payers of health care services. One such system is the piggyback bottle system, which is currently in use at University Hospital. The introduction of the prospective payment system by several third party payers of health care services will require hospital pharmacy administrators to evaluate and justify the cost of preparing and distributing intravenously administered drugs. A system which purportedly has the same advantages as those of the piggyback bottle system, but at a reduced cost to the Department of Pharmacy Services, is the Harvard Mini-Infuser System. A comparative of the two systems was performed to determine actual cost savings at University Hospital. The objective of this study was to determine the comparative personnel and material acquisition costs to the Department of Pharmacy Services at University Hospital of two systems for the intravenously administrations of drugs.