COMPUTERIZED DETECTION OF NOSOCOMIAL INFECTIONS IN NEWBORNS

Hospital-acquired infections are responsible for an increase in patien t mortality and costs. Their detection is essential to permit better i nfection control. We developed an expert system specifically to detect infections in pediatric patients. The expert system is implemented at LDS Hospital that has a level three newborn intensive care unit and w ell baby units. We describe how the knowledge base of the expert syste m was developed, implemented, and validated in a retrospective study. The results of the system were compared to manual reviewer results. Th e expert system had a sensitivity of 84.5% and specificity of 92.8% in detecting hospital-acquired infections when compared to a physician r eviewer. The Cohen's kappa between the expert system and the physician reviewer was 0.62 (p < .001).