Using rough sets to study expert behaviour in induction of labour

The rate of induction of labour (IOL) is increasing, despite no obvious increase in the incidence of the major indications. However the rate varies widely between different centres and practitioners and this does not seem to be due to variations in patient populations. The IOL decision-making process of six clinicians was recorded and examined using hypothetical scenarios presented on a computer. Several rules were identified from a rough sets analysis of the data. These rules were compared to the actual practise of these clinicians in 1994 Initial tests of these rules show that they may form a suitable set for developing an expert system for the induction of labour.Unpublished[1] Cleary, R., Beard, R.W., Chapple, J., Coles, J., Griffen, M., Joffe, M., and Welch, A. "The standard primipara as a basis for inter-unit comparisons of maternity care". British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 103:223-229, 1996. [2] Jarvelin, M.R., Hartikainen Sorri, A.L., and Rantakallio, P. "Labour induction policy in hospitals of different levels of specialisation." British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 100:310-315, 1993. [3] Johnson, N. and Ansell, D. "Variation in Caesarean and Instrumental Delivery Rates in New Zealand Hospitals." Australian and New Zealand. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 35(1):6-11, 1995. [4] O’Connor, R.A." Induction of labour - not how but why?" British Journal of Hospital Medicine 52(11):559-563, 1994. [5] Pawlak, Z. "Rough Sets." International Journal of Computing and Information Science. 11:341-356, 1982. [6] Pawlak, Z., Grzymala-Busse, J., Slowinski, R., and Ziarko, W. "Rough Sets." Communications of the ACM 38(11):89-95, 1995. [7] Ziarko, W. and Shan, N. "A Method for Computing All Maximally General Rules In Attribute-Value Systems." Computational Intelligence 12:223-234, 1996. [8] Woolery, L.K. and Grzymala-Busse, J." Machine learning for development of an expert system to predict premature birth." Biomedical Sciences Instrumentation. 31:29-34, 1995