BackgroundThe rigorous elicitation of user needs is a crucial step for both medical device design and purchasing. However, user needs elicitation is often based on qualitative methods whose findings can be difficult to integrate into medical decision-making. This paper describes the application of AHP to elicit user needs for a new CT scanner for use in a public hospital.MethodsAHP was used to design a hierarchy of 12 needs for a new CT scanner, grouped into 4 homogenous categories, and to prepare a paper questionnaire to investigate the relative priorities of these. The questionnaire was completed by 5 senior clinicians working in a variety of clinical specialisations and departments in the same Italian public hospital.ResultsAlthough safety and performance were considered the most important issues, user needs changed according to clinical scenario. For elective surgery, the five most important needs were: spatial resolution, processing software, radiation dose, patient monitoring, and contrast medium. For emergency, the top five most important needs were: patient monitoring, radiation dose, contrast medium control, speed run, spatial resolution.ConclusionsAHP effectively supported user need elicitation, helping to develop an analytic and intelligible framework of decision-making. User needs varied according to working scenario (elective versus emergency medicine) more than clinical specialization. This method should be considered by practitioners involved in decisions about new medical technology, whether that be during device design or before deciding whether to allocate budgets for new medical devices according to clinical functions or according to hospital department.
This paper describes an application of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to enhance interactive budgeting in one of the biggest public university hospitals in Italy. AHP improved budget allocation facilitating elicitation and formalisation of units' needs. Furthermore, AHP facilitated vertical communication among managers and stakeholders, as it allowed multilevel hierarchical representation of hospital needs, and horizontal communication among staff of the same hospital, as it allowed units' need prioritisation and standardisation, with a scientific multi-criteria approach, without using complex mathematics. Finally, AHP allowed traceability of a complex decision-making process (as budget allocation), this aspect being of paramount importance in public sectors, where managers are called to respond to many different stakeholders about their choices.
(2015) Government policy and healthcare management: proposal of a shared decisionmaking model. International Journal of Management and Decision Making, 14 (3). pp. 183-204. ISSN 1741-5187 Access from the University of Nottingham repository: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31734/1/Petrillo%202015%20IJMDM%20Government %20Policy%20and%20Health%20Care%20management-%20proposal%20of%20a %20shared%20decision-making%20model%20-%20final%20post-review%20author %20version%20with%20h.pdf Copyright and reuse:The Nottingham ePrints service makes this work by researchers of the University of Nottingham available open access under the following conditions. This article is made available under the University of Nottingham End User licence and may be reused according to the conditions of the licence. For more details see: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/end_user_agreement.pdf A note on versions:The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. Vol. 14, No. 3. pp.183 -204. doi: 10.1504/IJMDM.2015 Fabio De Felice, Professor at the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, board member of several international organizations and responsible for scientific research and training in industrial plants. The scientific activity developed through studies and researches on problems concerning industrial plant engineering such as improvement of quality in productive processes, simulation of industrial plants, multicriteria techniques, RAMS Analysis and Human Reliability Analysis. General Secretary of the Analytic Hierarchy Process -AHP Academy -International Association for the promotion of multi-criteria decision making methods.Carmela Vanzanella, Researcher at Italian Council of National Researches in Rome (Italy), the largest public research institution in Italy. She conducts research activities on Medical Technology, Neuroradiolgy, Health technology assessment in order to provide technologies and solutions to emerging public and private needs, to advice Government and other public bodies, and to contribute to the qualification of human resources.Filippo Crispino, works as an entrepreneur and engineer in information technology for over 10 years. He has been CTO and CEO of several companies. In the last three years has been delegated to the "Research, Innovation and Technology Transfer" and chairman of the Young Entrepreneurs of Confindustria Campania, he has been researcher in the field of Operations Research at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sannio, has participated in several research projects with universities and government agencies, has designed information systems and developed software for the Province of Rome, Avellino, University Nottingham and several companies. Stephen Morgan, is Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Nottingham....
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.