Multi-criteria decision analysis for emergency medical service assessment

• Published in: Annals of operations research Vol. 223; no. 1; pp. 239 - 254
• Main Authors: Kou, Gang, Wu, Wenshuai
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.12.2014; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Allocations; Assessments; Business and Management; Case studies; Combinatorics; Content analysis; Data envelopment analysis; Decision analysis; Decision making; Emergency management; Emergency medical services; Emergency preparedness; Emergency services; Management; Mathematical models; Medical; Methods; Multiple criteria decision making; Operations research; Operations Research/Decision Theory; Optimization; Outcome and process assessment (Health Care); Sensitivity analysis; Studies; Theory of Computation; China; Medical service assessment; Sensitivity analysis; Emergency; Multi-criteria decision analysis
• ISSN: 0254-5330; 1572-9338
• DOI: 10.1007/s10479-014-1630-6

In emergency management, it is important to arrange the medical resources according to emergency needs. This paper proposes a multi-criteria decision analysis model that combines grey theory and multi-criteria decision making theory to assess the current medical resource situation, find satisfactory solutions, and help the emergency decision makers to take appropriate responses in a timely manner. In addition, the best alternative is identified by the global optimal solution which can provide a theoretical guidance for decision makers to optimize the allocation of medical resources. To validate the proposed model, this paper conducts a case study of medical service assessment in provinces of East China. The results demonstrate that the proposed model can provide objective and comprehensive assessment of medical resources.