Designing a Bedside System for Predicting Length of Stay in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Length of stay (LOS) is an important indicator of neonatal outcomes, healthcare resource utilization, and hospital costs. This study developed an artificial intelligence–based prediction model that estimates NICU length of stay using routinely collected electronic medical record data. Unlike previous approaches, the model incorporated antenatal and perinatal characteristics, deviations from ASPEN nutrition guidelines, deviations from NeoFax medication recommendations, and major neonatal clinical diagnoses. Data from 836 neonatal admissions across two tertiary NICUs were used to develop gestation-specific predictive models and validated using an independent cohort of 211 patients. The resulting bedside interface enables clinicians to visualize patient-specific risk factors contributing to prolonged hospitalization, supporting family counseling, clinical decision-making, and operational planning while demonstrating the feasibility of real-time AI-assisted predictive analytics within neonatal intensive care.