Classification of Materials and Medicines in Hospital Inventory Management: A Multi-Criteria Analysis

Background: In hospital environment, to achieve an optimum level of operations and service, it is necessary to define adequate inventory control. Stocks can be managed, amongst other ways, through inputs classification, which is generally done based on a single criterion, such as monetary value, which does not encompass the nature and challenges of a hospital's inventory management. Thus, the present study aims to propose a multi-criteria decision support model to help classify the stock of materials and medicines at a university hospital in Natal-RN. Methods: Methodologically, the study followed 3 stages: i) preliminary; ii) modelling and choice; and iii) finalization, having within these stages specific steps that were followed. The first phase identified the actors of the process, objectives, criteria and alternatives, in which 5 criteria and 48 alternatives were established; the second phase was the choice and execution of the multicriteria decision method to solve the problem. We chose to use the Flexible and Interactive Tradeoff (FITradeoff) method for the classification problem. Finally, in the third phase, an analysis of the sensitivity of the developed model as well as validation of the results with decision makers was carried out. Results: : From the total of 48 medicines and hospital medical materials selected for the study, the classification of 34 of these alternatives to a single class was obtained through modelling and the other 14 alternatives were destined to two possible classes; moreover, the sensitivity analysis performed showed the robustness of the results. Conclusions: : The classification of materials and medicines developed according to the reality of the stock made it possible to make purchasing decisions based on the perspectives of the presented model, optimizing the stock of materials and medicines at the university hospital. The proposed model can be used as a basis for the development of other multicriteria models considering multiple criteria simultaneously.