Twelve years' experience of computer-aided diagnosis in a district general hospital

This paper describes experience in a modern district general hospital with a small desktop system for computer-aided diagnosis of acute abdominal pain, over a 12-year period involving 5512 cases. When compared with a baseline year (1973) in which unaided performance was monitored, during an initial...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England 1990-03, Vol.72 (2), p.140-146
Main Authors: McAdam, W A, Brock, B M, Armitage, T, Davenport, P, Chan, M, de Dombal, F T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abdominal Pain - diagnosis
Abdominal Pain - economics
Acute Disease
Appendicitis
Costs and Cost Analysis
Data Collection
Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted - economics
Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted - standards
England
Health Resources - utilization
Hospitals, District
Hospitals, General
Hospitals, Public
Humans
Intestinal Perforation
Length of Stay
Microcomputers
Rupture, Spontaneous
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Summary:This paper describes experience in a modern district general hospital with a small desktop system for computer-aided diagnosis of acute abdominal pain, over a 12-year period involving 5512 cases. When compared with a baseline year (1973) in which unaided performance was monitored, during an initial study period (1974-76) the diagnostic accuracy of junior staff rose by between 10 and 15%. This higher performance level was then maintained for a decade (1976-86) despite changes in staff. The perforation rate among appendicitis cases fell from 27% to 12.5%, accompanied by a smaller fall in negative laparotomy rates. The saving in surgical bednights devoted to acute abdominal pain was approximately 15%, and the notional cost of resources saved during the first 6 years of operation was 120,000 pounds. Other hospitals have shown--in the short term--benefits similar to those obtained at Airedale District General Hospital. The long-term benefits of the system at Airedale reinforce the conclusions of the earlier short-term trials that a comparable system should probably be offered to all DGHs in the UK, not as an exercise in 'artificial intelligence' but as an effective continuing stimulus to good clinical practice.
ISSN:0035-8843
1478-7083