Chapter 13 - Application of fuzzy TOPSIS in the sterilization of medical devices

Abstract

Because the well-being of both hospitalized and unhospitalized patients is crucial, sterilization of medical devices against infectious diseases such as septicemia, bacteriuria, pneumonia, shunt infection, hepatitis, etc., must be accomplished. This will avert infectious contamination through such devices. This chapter discusses the evaluation of the most commonly used sterilization methods for medical devices using the fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method. This method carries out a pairwise comparison of alternatives based on selected criteria using preference function and weighting to yield a complete ranking of alternatives. The alternatives selected are ethylene oxide, gamma rays, steam autoclave, dry heat, and formaldehyde, while the criteria considered include the cost of the sterilizer, its volume capacity, cycle time, temperature, and penetration power. These criteria are used as a determinant to verify the degree of sterility of each alternative and as thus ranked. The outcome shows steam autoclave as a better choice of sterilizer for medical devices when compared with others.