Evaluation of the Pediatric Residents Knowledge about the Economic Components for Patient Treatment in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences

The use of economics in planning for the cost of health services is a part of the health system policies. Service providers and recipients should have sufficient information about the economic components in order to have an integral economic program. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pediatric residents knowledge about the economic components for patient treatment.

This cross-sectional study was conducted for the pediatric residents of Mashhad university of medical sciences in the spring of 2014 with a questionnaire containing 19 questions. The validity of questionnaire was measured by Cranach's alpha and the reliability by pediatrics professors.

Overall 10% of the residents had correct knowledge about the percentage of insurance payment. About the cost of one night stay in the general wards, 24% and for ICU, 2% had the right information. None of them was familiar with the price of 10 grams of intravenous immunoglobulin, 5% of them had the right idea about the cost of a common prescription. Scores of residents were calculated and classified from weak to excellent.

This study showed that the residents information was insufficient about health care costs and it had no relation with the academic years.