A cost consequence study of the impact of a dermatology-trained practice nurse on the quality of life of primary care patients with eczema and psoriasis.

Abstract

This study demonstrates the difficulties of obtaining relevant information to facilitate decisions on how resources should be allocated in primary care. Not all questions can be answered by large multi-centred trials and studies themselves have an opportunity cost consuming resources that could otherwise be spent on direct health care. Often, local resource decisions will be based on partial evidence-yielding solutions that are satisfactory rather than optimum but which are, nevertheless, better than decisions taken with no evidence at all.