Management of surgical waiting list in public hospitals

Abstract

Hospitals are considered public utility companies and are supposed to be non-profit institutions; usually they function in a politieal and highly complex environment. Managerial authority is shared between doctors and administrators and each of the two groups aims to formulate its own individual policies and pursue objectives that may not coincide or may even be in direct opposition to one another. This situation is certain to affeet hospital performance and it must be taken into account when proposing any kind of results analysis. Improving the efficieney of Hospital performance establishing quantitative target values to those objectives, some of them involving intangible benefits, is the main objective of any Hospital Administration. The purpose of this study is to analyze through the M.C.D.M. approach, the inner coherency of the goals expressed by administrative Authorities. Also, applying Multicriteria Decision techniques we intend to design the real performance of surgical services at a local general hospital offering the decision centre a suitable methodology that allows us to analyze whether or not it is possible to improve fue running of the services, taking into account all the real constraints, e.g. space, staff availability and financial support.