139 A Survey of the Estimated Cost of Surgical Consumable Items Amongst Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeons

Aim The current economic climate is placing greater strain on the NHS leading to scrutiny of high expenditure areas, including the use of consumable items. Studies indicate that clinician’s knowledge surrounding health economics is limited, we hence conducted this survey to assess cost-awareness of Trauma and Orthopaedic (T&O) departmental staff. Method A questionnaire was digitally distributed to T&O staff in the East Kent Hospitals Trust requiring respondents to include demographic data and make cost estimations for 10 T&0 consumables. The mean, median and interquartile range of the estimated prices was compared to the item's actual cost. An estimate was deemed 'correct' if it was within 20% of the actual cost of the item. Results 7.1% of all estimates were ‘correct’. No correlation was seen between years of staff experience and the accuracy of estimates. The ‘Kenalog 1ml ampoule' had the highest accuracy of cost estimation (13%), while the ‘kirchner wires’ and ‘3.2 drill bit’ had the lowest accuracy. The cost of the ‘velcro wrist splint’ was the most overestimated (median estimate/actual cost = 1.57). The most underestimated item cost was the ‘tourniquet cuffs’ (median estimate/actual cost = 0.16). Conclusions There is a paucity of knowledge surrounding the cost of specialist T&O consumable items. Limitations included the sample size (98 respondents) and geographical area (East Kent Hospitals Trust). This study shows that there is need for further research and education surrounding this topic, with long term outcomes which may be beneficial both economically and environmentally.