A New Extended Approach to Reduce Admission Time in Hospital Operating Rooms Based on the FMEA Method in an Uncertain Environment

Abstract

Operating rooms (ORs) are one of the essential hospital resources and optimal management can result in efficient OR usage. The admission time reduction before surgery in the ORs can lead to on-time surgery and efficient use of ORs. This study addresses this issue by identifying the main failure modes that cause delays in ORs. The conventional methodology known as Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) represents one of the prevailing techniques utilized for the purpose of ascertaining failure modes within a given process. This involves the assignment of numerical scores to each failure mode, with the intention of utilizing the resultant Risk Priority Number (RPN) to facilitate the identification of said failure modes. However, RPN scoring has been criticized for some deficiencies. This study proposes a three-phase approach to address some of the shortcomings of the FMEA method. The initial stage involves utilizing the FMEA approach to recognize failure modes and assess the crucial elements of RPN. Following this, the second stage employs the Z-BWM technique and expert insights to determine the weights of the five essential factors. Lastly, in the third phase, risks are prioritized using the proposed Z-ARAS method based on the outputs of the previous phases. This approach considers the uncertainty in the determining factors and assigns different weights to them, while also taking into account the reliability of the risks through the Z-Number theory. Finally, comparing the proposed approach with other traditional approaches, reinforces the usefulness of the proposed method in evaluating failure modes in OR management.