TY - JOUR
T1 - Economic Case for Scale-up of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist at the National Level in Sub-Saharan Africa
AU - White, Michelle C.
AU - Leather, Andrew J.M.
AU - Sevdalis, Nick
AU - Healey, Andy
N1 - Funding Information:
NS and AH's research is supported by the National institute for Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) South London at King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. NS and AH are members of King's Improvement Science, which offers co-funding to the NIHR ARC South London and comprises a specialist team of improvement scientists and senior researchers based at King's College London. Its work is funded by King's Health Partners (Guy's and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, King's College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust), Guy's and St Thomas’ Charity and the Maudsley Charity. NS and AL's research is further supported by the ASPIRES research program (Antibiotic use across Surgical Pathways - Investigating, Redesigning and Evaluating Systems), funded by the Economic and Social Research Council; and by the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Health System Strengthening in Sub-Saharan Africa, King's College London (GHRU 16/136/54) using UK aid from the UK Government to support global health research.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. All rights reserved.
PY - 2022/5/1
Y1 - 2022/5/1
N2 - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the economic case for nationwide scale-up of the World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist using cost-effectiveness and benefit-cost analyses. BACKGROUND: The Checklist improves surgical outcomes but the economic case for widespread use remains uncertain. For perioperative quality improvement interventions to compete successfully against other worthwhile health and nonhealth interventions for limited government resources they must demonstrate cost-effectiveness and positive societal benefit. METHODS: Using data from 3 countries, we estimated the benefits as the total years of life lost (YLL) due to postoperative mortality averted over a 3 year period; converted the benefits to dollar equivalent values using estimates of the economic value of an additional year of life expectancy; estimated total implementation costs; and determined incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) and benefit-cost ratio (BCR). Costs are reported in international dollars using Word Bank purchasing power parity conversion factors at 2016 price-levels. RESULTS: In Benin, Cameroon, and Madagascar ICERs were: $31, $138, and $118 per additional YLL averted; and BCRs were 62, 29, and 9, respectively. Sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the associated mortality reduction and increased usage due to Checklist scale-up would need to deviate approximately 10-fold from published data to change our main interpretations. CONCLUSIONS: According to WHO criteria, Checklist scale-up is considered "very cost-effective" and for every $ 1 spent the potential return on investment is $9 to $62. These results compare favorably with other health and nonhealth interventions and support the economic argument for investing in Checklist scale-up as part of a national strategy for improving surgical outcomes.
AB - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the economic case for nationwide scale-up of the World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist using cost-effectiveness and benefit-cost analyses. BACKGROUND: The Checklist improves surgical outcomes but the economic case for widespread use remains uncertain. For perioperative quality improvement interventions to compete successfully against other worthwhile health and nonhealth interventions for limited government resources they must demonstrate cost-effectiveness and positive societal benefit. METHODS: Using data from 3 countries, we estimated the benefits as the total years of life lost (YLL) due to postoperative mortality averted over a 3 year period; converted the benefits to dollar equivalent values using estimates of the economic value of an additional year of life expectancy; estimated total implementation costs; and determined incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) and benefit-cost ratio (BCR). Costs are reported in international dollars using Word Bank purchasing power parity conversion factors at 2016 price-levels. RESULTS: In Benin, Cameroon, and Madagascar ICERs were: $31, $138, and $118 per additional YLL averted; and BCRs were 62, 29, and 9, respectively. Sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the associated mortality reduction and increased usage due to Checklist scale-up would need to deviate approximately 10-fold from published data to change our main interpretations. CONCLUSIONS: According to WHO criteria, Checklist scale-up is considered "very cost-effective" and for every $ 1 spent the potential return on investment is $9 to $62. These results compare favorably with other health and nonhealth interventions and support the economic argument for investing in Checklist scale-up as part of a national strategy for improving surgical outcomes.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85120821656&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1097/SLA.0000000000004498
DO - 10.1097/SLA.0000000000004498
M3 - Article
C2 - 32941283
AN - SCOPUS:85120821656
SN - 0003-4932
VL - 275
SP - 1018
EP - 1024
JO - Annals of Surgery
JF - Annals of Surgery
IS - 5
ER -
