Ventilator selection with multi criteria decision making methods during the COVID-19 pandemic

The benefits of technology in diagnosing and treating diseases cannot be ignored. Health technology is one of the most oversized allocation items in a hospital's budget. Thus, selecting the best device with proper functionalities is critical for hospital decision-makers. Device selection is a complex decision-making process due to the long list of conflicting criteria that need to be considered and the high level of competition in the market. This complex and important decision in hospitals is often left to the initiative and subjective opinion of a single person. Therefore, scientific methods and studies are needed to ensure that the medical device selection process is carried out well.With the extraordinary situations that emerged with the Covid-19 pandemic, the need for many medical devices, especially the need for ventilators, has increased. Furthermore, it has become even more imperative that decisions regarding medical device selection must be made according to up-to-date analyzes that consider changing dynamics. In this study, the selection problem of a ventilator planned to be purchased for the intensive care unit of a public hospital is considered and solved by using "Multi-Criteria Decision Making" techniques. The aim of the study is to assist decision-makers in choosing an appropriate ventilator device in a fast, consistent, and systematic manner under changing conditions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. Device alternatives and selection criteria discussed in the problem were based on expert opinions and similar studies on medical device selection reported in the literature. Five different brands of ventilators were evaluated according to five main and ten sub-criteria. To calculate criteria weights, a questionnaire was administered to a group of 10 people from professions related to the subject. The data obtained from the questionnaire was used as an input to the "Analytical Hierarchy Process" (AHP) method. With the help of TOPSIS and ELECTRE, the most suitable alternative was selected. Both methods yielded identical results.