Resources and process management using simulation and multicriteria analysis methods

The economic crisis and the austerity measures forced the governments in Europe to redesign the health care services. Emergency departments due to the economic crisis have to work under a limited number of personnel and budget. The aim is to develop a novel integrated methodology in order to optimize the health care services of an emergency department. MEDUTA combines simulation techniques and multiple criteria analysis in order to improve the performance of an emergency department. In particular, using the SIMUL8 software, the operation of an emergency department is modeled and the bottlenecks of each procedure are analyzed. Based on the simulating results, the hospital management has the ability to implement alternative scenarios in order to evaluate the reaction of the system, i.e., measure the performance of the emergency department. Furthermore, in order to enhance the decision process we use the stochastic UTA model, which is a regression based approach adopting the aggregation-disaggregation principles. The main aim of the disaggregation approaches is to analyse the behaviour and the cognitive style of the Decision Maker (DM), i.e., the director of the emergency department. Thus, the model is able to improve the DM’s knowledge about the decision situation and his/her preference that entails a consistent decision to be achieved. MEDUTA seems to be an effective approach for modelling decision making processes and improving health care services.Η οικονομική κρίση έχει ως αποτέλεσμα την περικοπή των δαπανών υγείας αλλά και την αύξηση των ασθενών που επισκέπτονται τα νοσοκομεία για λήψη υπηρεσιών υγείας. Λαμβάνοντας υπόψη τον περιορισμένο αριθμό πόρων οι επιχειρησιακοί ερευνητές προσπαθούν να αναπτύξουν μεθοδολογίες για την αποτελεσματικότερη διαχείριση των πόρων και διαδικασιών των νοσηλευτικών μονάδων. Η αύξηση των εισαγωγών στα Τμήματα Επειγόντων Περιστατικών (ΤΕΠ) από ασθενείς οι οποίοι ανήκουν στις ευπαθείς οικονομικά ομάδες αποτελεί παγκόσμιο πρόβλημα με αποτέλεσμα να εμφανίζεται το φαινόμενο του συνωστισμού. Αποτέλεσμα του φαινομένου του συνωστισμού αποτελούν φαινόμενα όπως οι ασθενείς που εγκαταλείπουν το ΤΕΠ χωρίς να εξετασθούν, η διακομιδή των ασθενοφόρων μεταξύ των νοσοκομείων, η αύξηση της θνησιμότητας καθώς και η καθυστέρηση στην παροχή υγειονομικής φροντίδας. Για την αντιμετώπιση του φαινομένου του συνωστισμού καθώς και για την αποτελεσματικότερη διαχείριση πόρων και διαδικασιών του ΤΕΠ στη συγκεκριμένη διδακτορική διατριβή αναπτύχθηκε η μεθοδολογία MEDUTA. Στόχος της συγκεκριμένης μεθοδολογίας είναι μέσω της προσομοίωσης να εντοπίσει τις εναλλακτικές λύσεις προκειμένου το τμήμα να λειτουργεί αποδοτικότερα αλλά και να υποστηρίξει τον αποφασίζοντα στη λήψη αποφάσεων με τη χρήση της αναλυτικής συνθετικής προσέγγισης. Η συγκεκριμένη μεθοδολογία σε σύγκριση με τις άλλες μεθοδολογίες πού έχουν δημοσιευθεί δίνει ιδιαίτερη βαρύτητα στα εμπλεκόμενα μέρη (γιατροί, νοσηλευτές, ασθενείς) για την ανάπτυξη των υποθετικών λύσεων. Προκειμένου να αναπτυχθούν οι υποθετικές λύσεις η MEDUTA λαμβάνει υπόψη τις απόψεις των γιατρών και των νοσηλευτών ενώ για τους ασθενείς χρησιμοποιεί την πολυκριτήρια μεθοδολογία αξιολόγησης της ικανοποίησης MUSA. Η μεθοδολογία έχει σχεδιασθεί να λειτουργεί και σε τμήματα στα οποία δεν υπάρχουν πληροφοριακά συστήματα για τη συλλογή δεδομένων, παρέχοντας στο χρήστη τα βήματα που πρέπει να ακολουθήσει για τη συλλογή των δεδομένων. Εκτός από την χρήση της προσομοίωσης για τον ανασχεδιασμό των επιχειρησιακών λειτουργιών του τμήματος η MEDUTA συμβάλει στην υποστήριξη των αποφάσεων του αποφασίζοντα. Πιο αναλυτικά ενώ οι μεθοδολογίες που έχουν δημοσιευθεί χρησιμοποιούν την Αναλυτική Ιεραρχική Προσέγγιση, η συγκεκριμένη μεθοδολογία χρησιμοποιεί τη στοχαστική uta, η οποία αποτελεί μέλος της αναλυτικής συνθετικής προσέγγισης. Η συγκεκριμένη μέθοδος αποκαλύπτει σε συντομότερο χρονικό διάστημα το σύστημα αξιών που χρησιμοποιεί ο αποφασίζοντας ενώ μέσω των αποτελεσμάτων που παρέχει στο χρήστη αποκαλύπτει αναλυτικά τον τρόπο σκέψης του αποφασίζοντα προκειμένου να λάβει αποφάσεις, οι οποίες σχετίζονται με τη διαχείριση πόρων και διαδικασιών του τμήματος. Προκειμένου να εφαρμοστεί πρακτικά η μεθοδολογία αναπτύχθηκε συνεργασία με το ΤΕΠ του Γενικού Νοσοκομείου Χανίων. Τέλος θα πρέπει να σημειωθεί ότι με τη συγκεκριμένη μεθοδολογία παρέχεται η δυνατότητα στους ερευνητές να ενσωματώσουν και άλλες σύγχρονες προσεγγίσεις του μάνατζμεντ αλλά και της πληροφορικής όπως την κάρτα ισορροπημένης στοχοθεσίας καθώς και τεχνικές εξόρυξης διαδικασιών προκειμένου από τη μία πλευρά να αξιολογήσουν τη στρατηγική του οργανισμού βάσει υποθετικών λύσεων ενώ από την άλλη να αναπτύσσουν το μοντέλο προσομοίωσης σε συντομότερο χρονικό διάστημα

Survey Data for Measuring Musical Creativity and the Impact of Information

This paper presents data about the analysis of Webster’s model of creative thinking in music products, and the impact of information on musical creativity. For this purpose, a specially designed closed-ended structured questionnaire was developed and distributed. The questionnaire was completed by 238 musicians and was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22.0. The data are presented though descriptive and inferential statistics, principal component analysis for variable reduction, and finally, bivariate regression analysis. The data provide information on Webster’s model of creative thinking in music as well as on the impact of music information on musical creativity. The survey results indicate that the overall sense of musical creativity includes conceptional and replicational musical creativity components. These are significantly positively correlated with music information. Musicians’ sense of creativity is impacted by music information availability when dealing with various musical creative activities

Developing a Sustainable Work Environment for Substitute Teachers: A Multi-Criteria Job Satisfaction Approach

Retention of provisional substitute teachers (PSTs) in the teaching profession is an important and timely topic that relates to the sustainability of the schools’ work environment and teaching profession. The present study re-examines these issues using teacher job satisfaction (TJS) as a surrogate variable. More precisely, MUlti-criteria Satisfaction Analysis (MUSA) -a method that combines Multi-Criteria Decision and Importance-Performance Analysis- is applied to a data set of primary school substitute teachers from Greece to assess the contribution of schools’ performance on 5 important aspects of the school environment i.e., opportunities for self-fulfillment, work intensity/load, salary/income, leadership and collegial relations, to overall PSTs JS. The findings indicate that self-fulfillment and collegial relationships contribute the most to PST overall JS, whilst salary/income the least. The results further suggest that self-fulfillment is not only the facet of the work environment that PSTs value the most but also the strong point of the schools’ work environment. The study provides a new strategic perspective on TJS research, as well as evidence-based strategies for improving the quality of work life and attrition rate levels of substitute teachers. Moreover, the theoretical and practical implications of this study are presented and avenues for future research are highlighted

Effective methods for modern healthcare service quality and evaluation Advances in medical diagnosis, treatment, and care (AMDTC) book series./ Panagiotis Manolitzas, Evangelos Grigoroudis, Nikolaos Matsatsinis, Denis Yannacopoulos, [editors].

"Premier reference source."Includes bibliographical references and index."This book is a reference source for the latest research on emerging tools and methodologies for the design of healthcare models, providing expert analyses on trouble-shooting specific problems in the industry and creating optimal hospital environments"--Health services quality and patient satisfaction: a review of the literature / Sofia Xesfingi, Athanassios Vozikis -- High-performance work practices in healthcare sector / Panagiotis Gkorezis, Mamas Theodorou -- Organizational integration of decision analytic methods in healthcare settings / Christopher L. Pate, Mark D. Swofford -- Modelling spatial medical data / S. Zimeras, Y. Matsinos -- Surgery operations modeling and scheduling in healthcare systems / Fatah Chetouane, Eman Ibraheem -- Examining the influence of information technology on modern health care / Edward T. Chen -- Geographic information system applications in public health: advancing health research / Sandul Yasobant, Kranti Suresh Vora, Ashish Upadhyay -- Strategies for expanding access and improving the quality of pharmaceutical services / Marcus Vinícius Dias-Souza -- Hospital units merging reasons for conflicts in the human resources / Athanasia Stamatopoulou, Eleni Stamatopoulou, Denis Yannacopoulos -- Towards European modern societies with health systems that are able to add more years to life, but also to add more life to years / Androutsou Lorena, Androutsou Foulvia.1 online resourc

Data on patient’s satisfaction from an emergency department: Developing strategies with the Multicriteria Satisfaction Analysis

This article presents data that examine the patient׳s satisfaction from the services of an Emergency Department in Greece during the economic crisis. 490 questionnaires have been collected for the assessment of patient satisfaction by taking into account criteria like cleanliness, waiting room, access to the hospital, courtesy, friendliness and professional attitude of the emergency department staff, service processes and waiting times. In order to examine the satisfaction levels of the patients and moreover to design possible strategic actions we use the MUSA method. Keywords: Emergency department, Patient satisfaction, Decision making, MUSA (Multicriteria Satisfaction Analysis

Improving customer experience in the cruise industry in the post pandemic era

The current research re-examines cruisers' satisfaction in the context of online user generated content extracted from CruiseCritics through the application of Multicriteria Satisfaction Analysis Method (MUSA). MCDA methods evaluate alternative courses of action with respect to criteria that reflect the main dimensions of the decision-making problem, involving human judgment and preferences. More precisely, the present work illustrates an evidence-based decision-making approach in the areas of quality management and cruisers' satisfaction and reveals valuable information to the decision-makers like global satisfaction indices, criteria weights and action diagrams to assist them restart and improve the performance of the cruise industry at the post pandemic era. Specifically, the analysis elucidated that the cruise industry players should reconsider the "value for money" aspect of their offering, continue investing in areas of service quality like cabins, service, and dining and closely monitor the fitness recreation, entertainment, and enrichment aspects of the cruisers' experience

Modelling waiting times in an emergency department in Greece during the economic crisis

Summarization: Overcrowding is one of the most common phenomenon at the emergency departments of the hospitals across the world. The aforementioned phenomenon causes many problems such as long waiting times for patients, increasing length of stay, patient dissatisfaction, ambulance diversions in some cities, prolonged pain and suffering, violence and miscommunication between the medical staff and the patients, patients leaving the emergency department without been seen and decreased physician productivity. This article analyses the problem of the increased waiting times in a Greek emergency department during the economic crisis. We use statistical models in order to reveal the factors that can lead to a decrease in waiting times. Our findings suggest that Greece’s Department of Health should standardize an uppermost waiting time for emergency departments which could help improve health care.Presented on: Journal of Health Managemen

Using multicriteria decision analysis to evaluate patient satisfaction in a hospital emergency department

Summarization: The scope of this study is to evaluate the level of patient satisfaction and to propose the solutions on how to increase the levels of satisfaction by using multicriteria analysis. A multicriteria user satisfaction analysis was used in order to measure the satisfaction and to elucidate the weak and strong points of satisfaction. The results of the questionnaire revealed that the average level of complete satisfaction is low (73.4) indicating that the citizens are somehow satisfied regarding the emergency department. Furthermore, the patients attributed great importance to the criteria of ‘processes involved in patient services’ and ‘courtesy, friendliness and professional attitude of the nurses’ in order to feel satisfied. The improvement diagram depicts that the first priority for the management committee of the hospital in order to enhance the level of satisfaction is to improve the service processes. It is obvious that the added values of the methodology are the action and improvement diagrams. By using these diagrams the management committee of the hospital can draw the future plans for improving the services of the emergency department.Παρουσιάστηκε στο: Journal of Health Managemen