Improving patient flow during infectious disease outbreaks using machine learning for real-time prediction of patient readiness for discharge.

Journal: PloS one
Published Date:

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Delays in patient flow and a shortage of hospital beds are commonplace in hospitals during periods of increased infection incidence, such as seasonal influenza and the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate the efficacy of machine learning methods at identifying and ranking the real-time readiness of individual patients for discharge, with the goal of improving patient flow within hospitals during periods of crisis.

Authors

  • Jennifer A Bishop
    Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
  • Hamza A Javed
    Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
  • Rasheed El-Bouri
    Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
  • Tingting Zhu
    Department of Engineering Science, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7DQ, UK.
  • Thomas Taylor
    Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
  • Tim Peto
    John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK; Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance, University of Oxford and Public Health England, Oxford, UK.
  • Peter Watkinson
    Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Kadoorie Centre for Critical Care Research and Education, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK. Electronic address: peter.watkinson@ndcn.ox.ac.uk.
  • David W Eyre
    John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK; Big Data Institute, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance, University of Oxford and Public Health England, Oxford, UK.
  • David A Clifton