DEDICATED HEALTHCARE LOGISTICS EVALUATION AND OPTIMIZATION SCHEME FOR PUBLIC HOSPITALS EMERGENCY SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT USING FUZZY KNOWLEDGE BASED APPROACH

ABSTRACT

The framework for Healthcare Logistics and Supply Chain Management is developed to identify the strength and weakness of the public healthcare system in southern Nigeria. A Strategic and Dedicated Healthcare Logistics Evaluation and Optimization scheme is an essential tool for improving efficiency and a justifiable health system. To assess the potential of this tool for equitable and efficient Healthcare Service delivery, a careful analysis of the existing system was carried out including the exploration of causes of poor performance. Indeed, when resources are limited and demand exceeds supply, allocation becomes a challenge. The motivation of this paper is based on the development of a Computational Framework (CF) using a distinctive optimization algorithms and machine learning techniques for efficient and optimal solutions. This approach was required to enable minimization of costs of healthcare service for Quality of Care (QoC) and Quality of Experience (QoE) delivery in public healthcare units. However, certain control parameters such as absence of Dedicated Logistics Department (DLD) in most medical facilities limit the efforts of stakeholders. This paper proposed a Computational Intelligence approach to assess various strategic and operational decisions metrics to optimize the multiple objectives using Type-1 Fuzzy Logic Model. The work was carried out in phases; phase I, search for healthcare resource allocation strategic plan, phase II determines a resource utilization schedule by patient class for daily operational level. Phase III considered the development of a framework that both evaluates and optimizes healthcare logistics using control coefficients of Logistics Optimization (LO), Integration of Information/Cognitive Technologies (ETA), and Collaboration of all Logistics Stakeholders (COL). The work assigned weights between one (1) and Ten (10) to these coefficients and modeled their effects on efficient supply chain. Finally, the paper explores the effects of separate strategies and their combination to identify the best possible resource supply chain. The computational experiments focused on the basis of the data obtained from a study of healthcare unit of public hospital in Southern Nigeria. The result shows that, the Scheme significantly evaluate and optimized healthcare logistics for Quality-of-Care (QoC) provisioning in terms of Reducing waiting time, improving material resources availability, enhancing human resources availability, Improving physical access to healthcare.

Keyword: Quality-of-Care (QoC), Quality of Experience (QoE), Healthcare Logistics and Supply Chain Management