HOSPITAL EXIGENCY FORECAST

Abstract

Crowding within emergency departments (EDs) can have significant negative consequences on patients. EDs therefore need to explore the use of innovative methods to improve patient flow and prevent overcrowding. One potential method is the use of data mining using machine learning techniques to predict ED admissions. This paper uses routinely collected administrative data (120 600 records) from two major acute hospitals in Northern Ireland to compare contrasting machine learning algorithms in predicting the risk of admission from the ED