Real-Time Data Mining Models for Predicting Length of Stay in Intensive Care Units

Nowadays the efficiency of costs and resources planning in hospitals embody a critical role in the management of these units. Length Of Stay (LOS) is a good metric when the goal is to decrease costs and to optimize resources. In Intensive Care Units (ICU) optimization assumes even a greater importance derived from the high costs associated to inpatients. This study presents two data mining approaches to predict LOS in an ICU. The first approach considered the admission variables and some other physiologic variables collected during the first 24 hours of inpatient. The second approach considered admission data and supplementary clinical data of the patient (vital signs and laboratory results) collected in real-time. The results achieved in the first approach are very poor (accuracy of 73 %). However, when the prediction is made using the data collected in real-time, the results are very interesting (sensitivity of 96.104%). The models induced in second experiment are sensitive to the patient clinical situation and can predict LOS according to the monitored variables. Models for predicting LOS at admission are not suited to the ICU particularities. Alternatively, they should be induced in real-time, using online-learning and considering the most recent patient condition when the model is induced.