A rule-based decision support application for laboratory investigations management

The appropriate management of clinical laboratory requests in specialised clinical units often requires the adherence to pre-defined protocols. We evaluated the impact of a rule-based expert system for clinical laboratory investigations management in a pediatric liver transplantation unit of our hospital. After one year, we observed an overall reduction in laboratory resources consumption for transplanted patients (-27%) and a decrease in the percentage of "STAT" requested tests (-44%). The percentage of tests ordered in agreement with the protocols for those patients increased from 33% before the introduction of the expert system to 45% when the system was used. The system was perceived by the clinicians as increasing the overall benefits in use of clinical resources, improving the laboratory data management, and saving time for the execution of laboratory ancillary tasks.