Impact-based Prioritization of Medical Equipment Maintenance for Small Medical Centers

The importance of prioritizing medical equipment maintenance in small medical centers (SMCs) cannot be overstated, especially since these facilities often do not have backups for much of their equipment and must run on considerably tighter budgets. When a device malfunctions in a SMC, the impact on the performance of the entire clinic is significant. Repair costs, along with additional costs associated with the failure can also rise. Yet, the current literature addresses maintenance scheduling only for larger medical providers. This study aims to propose an Analytic Hierarchy Process-based TOPSIS (AHP-TOPSIS) model to prioritize medical equipment in SMCs. For this purpose, we introduce a new “impact” factor to measure the device failure’s effect on other equipment. This model considers linguistic and numerical information types. Specifically, equipment age, criticality during urgent care, usage and failure frequencies, repair cost, and alternative back up are considered in the prioritization process. We then implement the model using actual databases from three 24-hour clinics in the city of Mashhad. Results indicate that equipment prioritization could vary considerably in different SMCs, leading to the conclusion that actual equipment usage data in SMCs is highly valuable for providing better care. The results also confirm the importance and effect of the impact factor on SMCs’ prioritization.