Implementation costs of a prevention protocol for pressure ulcers in a university hospital

Abstract

A quantitative, descriptive, and exploratory case study, aiming to calculate the direct implementation costs of a prevention protocol for pressure ulcers (PUs) in a university hospital. We mapped the activities constituting the creation steps, the implementation, and assessment of the protocol implementation. The hourly salary/professional was multiplied by the time spent in each activity and the costs of each product, accessory and equipment multiplied by the quantity acquired for the protocol feasibility. The Brazilian currency (R$) originally used in the calculations was converted to the North-American currency using the rate US$ 0.49/R$. The costs totalized US$ 60,857.38 (100%), being US$ 38,297.64 (62,93%) referred to the direct labor of nurses, technicians/nursing assistants and secretary, and US$ 22,559.74 (37,07%) referring to the acquisition of products, accessories and equipment. We expect the obtained results to contribute by subsidizing discussions regarding the indispensability of financial investments to implement preventive measures for PUs.