Description

The main aim of this research is to create a computer simulation of patients with bloodstream infection. Bloodstream infection is often a severe infection (blood poisoning) that can lead to sepsis, which is a significant global health concern, causing around 66,096 deaths each year in the United Kingdom alone. Doctors and healthcare decision-makers have to make difficult decisions that balance the effective treatment of patients with sepsis and avoid the overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics, which can lead to antibiotic resistance. By generating a virtual environment to test out different scenarios, this computer simulation model will provide insight into the projected effects of changes to hospital policy, changes in hospital resources (such as staff) and the impact of laboratory diagnostic tests. Proposed changes can be simulated in this virtual environment prior to implementation in the real healthcare system.

This study will be carried out in three parts. First, there will be interviews with healthcare staff over six months to comprehensively describe the patient pathways involved in management of bloodstream infection. Next, the project will analyse historical pseudonymised data from Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation and Liverpool Clinical Laboratories to inform the characteristics of the model (in particular on the bacteria causing infections, the antibiotic treatments used, and the time it takes for patients to be treated). Finally, there will be a 30-day observational study where researchers observe the treatment of patients with bloodstream infection (without intervening or recording identifying details) to ensure that the computer model captures all the important steps involved in patient management.