The analytic decision-making preference model to evaluate the disaster readiness in emergency departments: The A.D.T. model

In recent years, a series of important emergencies have been taken place worldwide in industrial plants. After the occurrence of a disaster, it is essential to activate the correct emergency procedures. Particularly, it is important to direct people injured in hospitals able to handle emergencies. Thus, nowadays, the emergency services require a “transversal” process that starts from the disaster moment occurred until the involvement of all actors that participate in the process to provide integral, safe and quality attention. The aim of this study is to evaluate the overall performance of emergency departments in the hospital sector. A hybrid model called the “Analytic Decision Making Preference Model - ADT Model” based on AHP, DEMATEL and TOPSIS methods is proposed. AHP was been used to determine the criteria and sub-criteria weights. Then, DEMATEL is used to evaluate interdependence between criteria and sub-criteria. After this, TOPSIS is applied to rank the emergency departments from highest to lowest according to their closeness coefficient. A real case study in Colombia is presented.