DECISION-MAKING WITH MULTIPLE CRITERIA IN THE SELECTION OF ULTRASONIC SCANNING SYSTEM IN A PRIVATE HOSPITAL IN BRAZIL

Abstract

<p>This article presents the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) as an aiding approach in decision-making, applied to the technical evaluation of the acquisition process of ultrasonic device in a private hospital in Brazil. Some steps and principles of AHP, such as the complexity of hierarchical decomposition, comparative judgments, priorities synthesis, and sensitivity analysis show, themselves to be utilities for the success of the technical evaluation process, going from meeting the hospital’s necessity for transparency to auditable process documentation. The hospital’s management’s expectation of separating the hospital’s medical technical evaluation process from the commercial evaluation process was achieved through the application of AHP. Despite the great number of possible variables for the ultra-sound’s technical evaluation, the decision-making team adapted itself easily and quickly to the employed method, contributing to the success of the work. The range of medical equipment installed in Brazil presents geographic concentration, with a large percentage of the equipment remaining unused due to lack of maintenance or inadequate staff to operate them, and the quantity of determined image devices per habitant above the average of other developed countries. That reality leads to the waste of resources in the health sector and adverse effects to the population’s health. This confirms the pertinence of the instrument’s application in this work, and indicates the potential increase in its utilization in the planning and control of public and private resources in the health sector.</p><p> </p><p>http://dx.doi.org/10.13033/ijahp.v2i1.70</p>