Application of analytic hierarchy process for measuring and comparing the global performance of intensive care units.

Purpose: To develop a model for the global performance measurement of intensive care units (ICUs) and to apply that model to compare the services for quality improvement.

Materials And Methods: Analytic hierarchy process, a multiple-attribute decision-making technique, is used in this study to evolve such a model. The steps consisted of identifying the critical success factors for the best performance of an ICU, identifying subfactors that influence the critical factors, comparing them pairwise, deriving their relative importance and ratings, and calculating the cumulative performance according to the attributes of a given ICU.

A new tool for measurement of process-based performance of multispecialty tertiary care hospitals.

There is an increasing need of a model for the process-based performance measurement of multispecialty tertiary care hospitals for quality improvement. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is utilized in this study to evolve such a model. Each step in the model was derived by group-discussions and brainstorming sessions among experienced clinicians and managers.

Futility-of-care decisions in the treatment of moribund intensive care patients in a developing country.

Purpose: To analyze the characteristics of moribund patients in a surgical intensive care unit (ICU) and highlight the dilemmas inherent in treating such patients.

Methods: Data on all patients admitted to the surgical ICU during the period of three years from July 1999 to June 2002 were collected prospectively. Data were collected on very ill patients who died, in whom it appeared obvious that treatment could not have improved their condition and whose death could have been anticipated.