A decision support system to solve the problem of health care priority-setting

Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide a decision support tool to deal with the problem of seting priorites among patients competing for limited health care resources. Limited resources and unlimited demands prevent health-care services to be provided to all those in need. This became publi...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor principal: Pinho, Micaela (author)
Outros Autores: Moura, Ana (author)
Formato: article
Idioma:eng
Publicado em: 2021
Assuntos:
Texto completo:http://hdl.handle.net/11328/3669
País:Portugal
Oai:oai:repositorio.uportu.pt:11328/3669
Descrição
Resumo:Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide a decision support tool to deal with the problem of seting priorites among patients competing for limited health care resources. Limited resources and unlimited demands prevent health-care services to be provided to all those in need. This became publicity evident with the current Covid-19 pandemic. Although controversial, health care rationing has always existed and is now inevitable. Setting priorities becomes then inevitable. How to define those priorities is a complex and yet irresolvable issue mainly because it involves several and conflicting criteria, translated into efficiency and equity considerations. This is why multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) was introduced to health care as an appropriate decision-support framework for solving complex problems.