Process data analytics for hospital case-mix planning.

The composition and volume of patients treated in a hospital, i.e., the patient case-mix, directly impacts resource utilisation. Despite advances in technology, existing case-mix planning approaches are mostly manual. In this paper, we report on a solution that was developed in collaboration with the Queensland Children's Hospital for supporting its case-mix planning using process mining. We investigated (1) How can process mining capabilities be used to inform hospital case-mix planning?, and (2) How can process data be used to assess hospital capacity assessment and inform hospital case-mix planning? The major contributions of this paper include (i) an automated workflow to support both process mining analysis, and capacity assessment, (ii) a process mining analysis designed to detect process performance and variations, and (iii) a novel capacity assessment model based on limiting-resource saturation.

The demographic profile of young patients (<45 years-old) with acute coronary syndromes in Queensland.

BACKGROUND: There is little data regarding the demographic profile of young (<45 years) Australian acute coronary syndrome patients. The aim of this study was to compare baseline characteristics, risk factor profile and outcomes of young patients compared with their older counterparts referred to two metropolitan Queensland hospitals. METHODS: Over a four-year period, data on acute coronary syndrome patients referred to The Prince Charles and Royal Brisbane Hospitals were retrospectively analysed. Three major groups were identified: <45 years, 45-60 years and those >60 years. Age, sex, body mass index, risk factor profile, degree of coronary disease, left ventricular dysfunction, mode of presentation, initial pharmacological therapy and mortality data were compared between the three groups. RESULTS: 4549 patients were analysed of whom, 277 were less than 45 years old. Younger patients tended to be male, more overweight and present more commonly with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction compared to their older counterparts. Smoking, family history and dyslipidaemia tended to occur more frequently in younger patients as compared to those >45 years. Those patients >45 years tended to present with non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction and have a higher degree of ischaemic burden and left ventricular dysfunction. No patients <45 years died in their index admission at 30 days or at one year. CONCLUSIONS: Although young patients <45 years make up the minority (6.1%) of patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome and generally have a favourable prognosis, this paper highlights the need for aggressive risk factor modification, with particular attention to smoking and dyslipidaemia, before the onset of overt clinical disease.