Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Nosocomial infection prevention is essential for patients’ safety and well-being. It can be ­efficiently performed through the analysis of the information available. With this analysis, it is possible to build knowledge that helps to identify the risk factors and the activities related to the nosocomial infection occurrence and it also allows characterizing the infection. Methods/Statistical Analysis: This paper presents a Business Intelligence (BI) system built to allow the study of nosocomial infection incidence in the Medicine Units of Centro Hospitalar do Porto (CHP), a hospital center in the north of Portugal. This BI platform is responsible for presenting nosocomial infection indicators. Findings: This platform enables to query important information and to analyze it, supporting healthcare professionals in their decisions. The knowledge obtained by this analysis allows preventing, monitoring and reducing nosocomial infections. So, the system acts as a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) capable of increasing patient safety and well-being. The platform developed shows that, for example, in 2013 the rate of nosocomial infection in CHP Medicine Units varied between 9.43% and 12.95% and the respiratory and the urinary tract infections were the most frequent nosocomial infections. Application/Improvements: This work and the platform developed demonstrate that BI technology can be applied to healthcare with utility.

Keywords: Business Intelligence, Clinical Decision Support System, Data Warehousing, Nosocomial Infection, On-Line Analytical Processing