Title: An analytic hierarchy process-based framework to support outsourcing decisions on hospital sterilisation

Authors: Emanuele Merola; Elio Padoano; Vittorio Zuliani

Addresses: Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, Via Valerio 10, 34127 Trieste (I), Italy ' Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, Via Valerio 10, 34127 Trieste (I), Italy ' Hospital Engineering Srl, Via Breve 5, 33078 San Vito al Tagliamento (I), Italy

Abstract: The study investigates the opportunity to outsource, partially or totally, the sterilisation service of a hospital. It proposes a framework, based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), to support the choice of the most effective configuration of the service when multiple criteria are considered. First, the sterilisation process was subdivided into stages that could be managed by the hospital (insourced) or outsourced. The feasible configurations obtained by combining insourced and outsourced stages were then evaluated by means of an AHP model that was validated by the participants to the decision process. The framework can be used in different settings, but the criteria must be validated in the each specific case. Further applications to real cases are needed to test it in different contexts, especially if characterised by different organisation structures.

Keywords: strategic decisions; outsourcing decisions; healthcare management; hospital sterilisation; hospitals; multicriteria decision making; MCDM; analytical hierarchy process; AHP; evaluation; Italy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBSR.2016.075747

International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2016 Vol.10 No.2/3/4, pp.142 - 161

Received: 13 Feb 2015
Accepted: 15 Oct 2015
Published online: 01 Apr 2016 *

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