Dr Josep M. Badia, lecturer in the Department of Medicine at UIC Barcelona and head of the Surgical Infection Process at the Hospital General de Granollers, and surgeon and UIC Barcelona doctoral student Daniel Casanova took part in the SIS-E annual congress held in Dublin. They were joined by Júlia Castells and Laura Vásquez, surgical residents from the university hospital at UIC Barcelona.
AI applied to surgical site infection surveillance
At the congress, Badia and Casanova presented the preliminary results of two studies that form part of Daniel Casanova’s doctoral thesis, which focuses on the potential for incorporating artificial intelligence into the surveillance of surgical site infections (SSI). As the doctoral student at UIC Barcelona’s School of Doctoral Studies explained, “With the introduction of artificial intelligence, our goal is to automate surveillance so that manual review is only required in those cases identified by the AI as potentially infected.”
The two doctors also shared early findings from a second study included in Casanova’s thesis. This work is being carried out in collaboration with the University’s Epidemiology and Public Health Area, the Department of Digital Transformation at the Hospital General de Granollers, and the Catalan Health Department’s Healthcare-Associated Infections Surveillance Programme (VINCat). “In this case, we’re developing a computational algorithm with the same objective as in the first study, to compare or integrate it with ChatGPT-4 in order to determine which AI system is more effective in achieving our goal,” they added.
As highlighted by World Health Organization (WHO) member Mohamed Abbas, this is the first global study to explore the use of ChatGPT-4 in surgical infection surveillance, and it holds significant clinical relevance. In this regard, Daniel Casanova pointed out that “AI is here to stay in the field of medicine, as it can be an invaluable tool for analysing medical data and supporting decision-making. However, it will never replace people in patient care, as empathy and human contact are two fundamental pillars that AI cannot replicate.”
Other key projects
Also at the international meeting, Dr Josep M. Badia presented the European project “Joining Hands in Surgical Site Infection”, which outlines a bundle of measures for preventing SSIs across all surgical specialities. He also shared a project carried out within the framework of the Surgical Infection Observatory, which analyses and supports decision-making regarding the application of negative pressure therapy to closed wounds in any type of surgery.
