Review of a two-year methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus screening program and cost-effectiveness analysis in Singapore

Table 2 Screening program cost in US$^a

Cost item	HIV patients			Infectious diseases patients			Dermatological patients
Cost item	Staff cost per patient	Number of patients	Total cost	Staff cost per patient	Number of patients	Total cost	Staff cost per patient	Number of patients	Total cost
Swabs (entry)	2.74^b	913	2504	2.74^b	520	1426	2.74^b	824	2260
Cleaning (entry)	2.70^c	97	262	2.70^c	14	38	2.70^c	162	438
Collating (entry)	0.55^d	913	501	0.55^d	520	285	0.55^d	824	452
Swabs (discharge)	2.74^b	679	1862	2.74^b	464	1272	2.74^b	624	1711
Collating (discharge)	0.55^d	679	371	0.55^d	464	253	0.55^d	624	341
Hand rub Bottles		680^e	5304		104^e	808		1204^e	9390
Tariff paid by patient	25	1592	39,736	25	984	24,561	25	1448	36,142
Total (entry and discharge)	50,540			28,643			50,733

^aS$ was converted to US$ based on exchange rate of 0.78
^bFifteen minutes of staff time is needed to take swabs including labelling/preparation for one patient with a monthly salary of S$2250 [59]
^cThirty minutes of staff time is needed to clean MRSA positive room for one patient with a monthly salary of S$950 [59]
^dThirty minutes of staff time is needed to collate data for ten patients with a monthly salary of S$2250 [59]
^eA bottle cost S$10 (~ US$7.8)

ISSN: 1471-2334