Direct cost of dressings for pressure ulcers in hospitalized patients

Objective: to identify the average direct cost (ADC) on the direct labor (DL) for nurses and the consumption of materials and solutions used in performing dressings for pressure ulcers (PU) in hospitalized patients. Methods: case study, exploratory and descriptive case conducted in a teaching hospital. For six months, 228 dressings were performed for the treatment of PU patients. We calculated the cost by multiplying the time spent by nurses by the DL unit cost, adding to the cost of materials and solutions consumed. Results: the dressings ADC of PU corresponds to US$19.18 (PUs-category I); US$ 6.50 (PUs-category II); US$ 12.34 (PUs-category III); US$ 5.84 (PUs-category IV); US$ 9.52 (PUs-unclassifi able) and US$ 3.76 (PU suspected deep tissue injury). Conclusion: the methodology used can be reproduced in different hospital settings for the development of other studies to expand and complement the knowledge gained.