SWOT Analysis and Stakeholder Engagement for Comparative Evaluation of Hybrid Molecular Imaging Modalities

Abstract

Strategic planning of technology development in healthcare is a complex process including the analysis of economic, medical, and social key elements. The main objective of the decision-making process in healthcare should be to promote effective and sustainable technological development, which effectively means a development able to produce a real improvement for research and patient’s healthcare. It is conceivable that several key factors need to be identified to achieve this objective. Some of these are internal to the system (hospital, university, research clinic) where improvements should be realized, whereas others are external and depend on the economic environment, users (physicians, researchers), patients, manufacturers, and all other stakeholders that for various reasons are involved with these technologies. The involvement of different stakeholders is necessary in order to consider all possible relevant factors in a decision-making process and to legitimate the final decision [1–4]. Methods which include various stakeholders are based on public meetings, surveys, workshops, interviews, and e-participation through web platforms or other communication modalities. In this context, a factor can be considered a strength or a weakness, an opportunity or a threat, depending on the point of view or the expectations of each stakeholder. These differences describe more deeply the complex and dynamic scenario in which the evaluation must be carried out [5]. SWOT analysis is a decision supporting tool designed for incorporating internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats) factors into organizational or technological change planning. SWOT analysis is not only devoted to profit-seeking organizations but may also be used in any decision-making process where the proposed aim is clearly defined. SWOT analysis has been effectively used for strategy building and matching and converting purposes. The SWOT analysis has already been applied in some areas of medicine to address various organizational, technical, or scientific issues [6–10]. Only in a few cases was SWOT used for the strategic planning of technological development [11] or to promote the development and equal accessibility to technological resources potentially useful for population health [12]. Technological development has an important strategic role in terms of economic perspective as well as for the potential effect on population health and the availability of competitive tools for health research. Recent and latest generations of molecular hybrid modalities include high-cost technology and a potentially high impact on population health. Without considering the possible improvement of health research produced by cutting-edge technologies and the raising of competitiveness compared to other developed countries. We aimed to identify factors that could affect the success of a program of technological development and investigate the potential impact of technology development on quality improvement in healthcare. Therefore, we used the SWOT to compare internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities or threats) main factors of the positron emission tomography (PET) associated with a CT scanner and a PET coupled to a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner. The analysis of the survey results has identified some internal and external factors useful to healthcare facilities for planning a strategic development plan and by manufacturers to improve scanner performance and market positioning.