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Cost Effectiveness of A Fine Needle Aspiration Clinic
Author(s) -
BROWN L. A.,
COGHILL S. B.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
cytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.512
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1365-2303
pISSN - 0956-5507
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2303.1992.tb00048.x
Subject(s) - medicine , fine needle aspiration , fine needle aspiration cytology , thyroid , lymph node , limited resources , general surgery , biopsy , surgery , medical emergency , radiology , pathology , risk analysis (engineering)
The resource implications of a Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) Clinic at Northampton General Hospital have been evaluated over a 12 month period using a patient management questionnaire. A total of 490 cases from which fine needle aspirates were taken from superficial sites have been assessed (breast 381, thyroid 46, lymph node 44, salivary gland 9, soft tissue 10). Total resource savings (±135 544) exceeded the expenses of the FNA clinic (±27 290). Potential cost savings per case were the greatest for thyroid aspirates. the FNA clinic where the pathologist takes, stains and reports optimally prepared specimens, provides a high quality and accurate service on which clinicians can confidently base clinical management decisions. Unnecessary investigations and operations are avoided, allowing scant resources to be released for other procedures.