Using Analytical Hierarchy Process for Medical Equipment Maintenance and Replacement Decision in Malaysia Private Hospitals

Abstract

Medical equipment is any instrument, appliance, software, or material intended by the manufacturer to be used, alone or in combination for medical purpose. Further, medical equipment maintenance and replacement is a challenging procedure, especially for high-end equipment. This topic has been a long debate as the equipment will increase undesirable failure; where an early maintenance or replacement will result in high investment costs and premature disposal and late maintenance or replacement will lead to malfunctions that can pose serious risks to patient safety and healthcare operations. However, hospitals are unable to decide whether to maintain or replace the equipment especially when the equipment reaches its life and has a high repair cost. A few studies were conducted on the same research topic, but most of the findings emphasized maintenance and replacement methods rather than the criteria contributing to the decision. The criteria to maintain or replace medical equipment play an essential role to ensure the equipment is operating cost-effectively. Hence, the objective of this research is to apply Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach to prioritize important criteria that influence decision-makers to decide whether to maintain or replace medical equipment. Some of potential criteria for the decision-making include maintenance cost, support, and regulatory compliance. This research utilized a mixed method approach to gather preliminary data from medical equipment experts and surveys to prioritize the criteria. Findings suggested a list of criteria that are influenced in decision-making to maintain or replace the medical equipment. The prioritization of the criteria reveals the downtime, life cycle cost and beyond economical repair (BER) to be the most important criteria.