Track: Graduate Student Paper Competition

Abstract

The risk or chance of undesirable outcomes during the procedure is considered in different areas in healthcare organizations. However, its’ application in prioritization of surgical patients is not reported in literature nor in practice. This paper focuses on the significance of risk in prioritization of patients, and proposes an innovative approach for prioritization of surgical patients considering uncertainties, group decision making, and associated risks that may threaten patients’ health during waiting time. An illustrative example shows that using the proposed approach, decision makers can easily classify patients for surgery according to their criticality. In the lights of the proposed approach, decision makers can; i) manage waiting lists properly, ii) ) increase quality of care, and patients’ safety, iii) handle uncertainty, iv) consider several medical professionals’ opinions simultaneously, and v) diminish rate of injuries and mortality due to long waiting times. In addition, this approach could be very beneficial to other departments like emergency departments, or even other healthcare organizations such as rehabilitation centers, medical clinics and etc.