Cost of Nursing Activities for COVID-19 Patients Undergoing Cesarean Section with Spinal Anesthesia in a Tertiary Hospital

Abstract

The purposes of the study were to find out nursing activity-based costs for spinal anesthesia in cesarean section patients with COVID-19 in a private hospital. The sample group consisted of cost reports on 30 pregnant patients with COVID-19 patients receiving spinal anesthesia, and 62 personnel in anesthetic nursing units selected using purposive sampling. Two types of data were collected: retrospective data and current data. The research instruments were records of per service unit, nursing activity dictionary, and activity-based cost records. The content validity value of all the instruments was 1, and the observational reliability value was 0.92. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics (number, percentage, mean, and standard deviation).
The study found that the total nursing activity-based cost was 99,172.33 Baht with the highest cost of management and support activities at 59,237.71 (59.73 percent), followed by nursing activity cost while patients were under anesthesia at 23,466.71 Baht (23.66 percent). When classified into per activity and per unit, it was found that building and environmental management cost during the COVID-19 pandemic was the highest at 963.01 Baht.
The study results indicate that for cost management, Administrators in nursing organizations should have evidence-based data in regard to Nursing Cost Analysis both in the normal situation and in the occurrence of new infections so that they would be able to manage resources expenses in accordance with the arrangement of services in order to have standards in nursing care services for patients as well as efficiency in management and budgeting.