Pattern Recognition for Supporting the Replacement of Medical Equipment at Mexican Institute of Pediatrics

Abstract

The objective of this work was to develop an evaluation tool based on multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), for the replacement of older medical equipment installed at the National Institute of Pediatrics from Mexico, considering technical, clinical, and economic aspects. The result of such tool was an indicator called Indicator for Medical Equipment Replacement (IMER) that provides the functionality and the availability of the equipment at the medical service where it is located, in order to attend the patient’s demand, as well as economical aspects. The IMER determines the medical equipment replacement priority in terms of short, medium, or long term, meaning 3, 6, or 10 years, respectively. The IMER was applied to a sample of 29 medical equipment located at three critical care units from the institute.