How to Demonstrate the Economic Impact of Activities of the Healthcare-Associated Infection Control Service (Sciras)?

Activities developed by multiprofessional teams in infection control are fundamental to ensure safety, quality, prevention, or reduction of harm. A relevant question is how to demonstrate to administrative managers that these actions also result in resource savings. To highlight the financial result of SCIRAS, specialized counseling in antimicrobial use (AEUA) was chosen, since rational use of these medications is essential for safety and quality of care. In contrast, inappropriate use leads to serious consequences, such as increased bacterial resistance, adverse effects for patients, and avoidable cost. This work seeks to estimate, in values, the savings achieved by AEUA. Study conducted between Oct/24 and Jun/25, in a private healthcare institution with 228 beds, 60 ICU beds, located in the south zone of Rio de Janeiro (RJ). Patients using antimicrobials are identified through a report extracted from medical prescriptions. AEUA is carried out in the institution’s sectors, on business days, by 02 infectious disease physicians from SCIRAS, who perform in-person visits and classify interventions performed in a specific form. Antimicrobials discontinued, reductions in treatment duration, or spectrum reduction resulting from AEUA were considered for analysis. When the medication was replaced with another of narrower spectrum, the difference was counted. When the drug was discontinued or its duration reduced, the initially proposed schedule by the care team was considered for calculating savings. Daily dosage and the value of each drug did not change during the study, despite price adjustments occurring for some medications. Approximately 50% of evaluated patients benefited from prescription adjustments, diagnostic assistance, or follow-up performed through AEUA. Among interventions, 25% of antimicrobials were discontinued or had spectrum or duration reduced, leading to savings of R$ 619,408.65 over the nine months of the study. AEUA provided significant savings for the institution. The reported value is still underestimated, since not all interventions were considered in the calculation. Measuring this savings represents an objective way to demonstrate to administrative managers one of the positive impacts of SCIRAS activities.