A Fuzzy Hybrid MCDM Approach for Assessing the Emergency Department Performance during the COVID-19 Outbreak

Miguel Ortíz-Barrios (), Natalia Jaramillo-Rueda, Muhammet Gul, Melih Yucesan, Genett Jiménez-Delgado and Juan-José Alfaro-Saíz
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Miguel Ortíz-Barrios: Department of Productivity and Innovation, Universidad de la Costa CUC, Barranquilla 081001, Colombia
Natalia Jaramillo-Rueda: Department of Productivity and Innovation, Universidad de la Costa CUC, Barranquilla 081001, Colombia
Muhammet Gul: School of Transportation and Logistics, Istanbul University, Istanbul 34320, Turkey
Melih Yucesan: Department of Emergency Aid and Disaster Management, Munzur University, Tunceli 62000, Turkey
Genett Jiménez-Delgado: Department of Industrial Engineering, Institución Universitaria de Barranquilla IUB, Barranquilla 080002, Colombia
Juan-José Alfaro-Saíz: Research Centre on Production Management and Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 5, 1-39

Abstract: The use of emergency departments (EDs) has increased during the COVID-19 outbreak, thereby evidencing the key role of these units in the overall response of healthcare systems to the current pandemic scenario. Nevertheless, several disruptions have emerged in the practical scenario including low throughput, overcrowding, and extended waiting times. Therefore, there is a need to develop strategies for upgrading the response of these units against the current pandemic. Given the above, this paper presents a hybrid fuzzy multicriteria decision-making model (MCDM) to evaluate the performance of EDs and create focused improvement interventions. First, the intuitionistic fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (IF-AHP) technique is used to estimate the relative priorities of criteria and sub-criteria considering uncertainty. Then, the intuitionistic fuzzy decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (IF-DEMATEL) is employed to calculate the interdependence and feedback between criteria and sub-criteria under uncertainty, Finally, the combined compromise solution (CoCoSo) is implemented to rank the EDs and detect their weaknesses to device suitable improvement plans. The aforementioned methodology was validated in three emergency centers in Turkey. The results revealed that the most important criterion in ED performance was ER facilities (14.4%), while Procedures and protocols evidenced the highest positive D + R value (18.239) among the dispatchers and is therefore deemed as the main generator within the performance network.

Keywords: emergency departments (EDs); intuitionistic fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (IF-AHP); intuitionistic fuzzy decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (IF-DEMATEL); combined compromise solution (CoCoSo); performance evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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