Measurement of logistics management performance in health enterprises: Case of a public hospital

This study aims to conduct an integrated application for measuring logistics performance in healthcare organizations. The study is based on five main logistics activity areas identified in line with the literature—patient services and medical accounting, procurement and inventory management, distribution and transportation, waste management–cleaning and sterilization, and maintenance—along with a total of 15 subperformance criteria. The participants of the study consist of seven top managers from a secondary-level hospital under subordination of the Ministry of Health. These managers include the chief physician, department managers and their deputies, and a head nurse. The relative importance of the criteria was evaluated using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), while logistics performance measurement was carried out based on the participants' assessments on a 5-point scale. The findings indicate that distribution and transportation activities come to the front in terms of overall importance, followed by patient services and procurement activities. Criteria related to patient safety rank highest in terms of importance. The results also show that managers assign different priorities to logistics criteria depending on their professional backgrounds and areas of responsibility; however, they share a common understanding regarding patient-oriented safety criteria. The overall logistics performance of the hospital was calculated as 59%. The study provides a strategic framework for resource allocation and performance improvement efforts in healthcare organizations and highlights the contribution of multi-criteria decision-making techniques to these processes.