Efficiency of intensive care unit services in the age of pandemic: a need for critical care professionals


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Çınaroğlu S.

47th Annual Meeting of the European Working Group on Operational Research-ORAHS-2021, Southampton, United Kingdom, 5 - 09 July 2021, pp.36-37

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Summary Text
  • City: Southampton
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Page Numbers: pp.36-37
  • Hacettepe University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Shortage of critical care professionals has been a challenge during pandemic. The objective of this study is to examine the efficiencies of intensive care unit (ICU) services in Turkey in the age of Covid-19 pandemic. Data were gathered from the Public Hospital Statistical Year Book for the year 2017. Analysis are presented at hospital level by comparing teaching and non-teaching hospitals. Bootstrapped data envelopment analysis procedure was used to gather more precise efficiency scores. Three analysis levels are incorporated into the study such as, all public hospitals (N=100), teaching (N=53), non-teaching hospitals (N=47) and provinces that are providing high density of ICU services through the country (N=54). Study results reveal that average efficiency scores of ICU services obtained from teaching hospitals (eff=0.65) is higher than non-teaching (eff=0.54) hospitals. After applying the bootstrapping techniques, efficiency scores are significantly improved and the difference between before and after bootstrapping results are statistically significant (p˂0.05). Province based analysis indicates that, ICU services efficiencies are high for provinces located in southeast part of the country and highly populated places, such as İstanbul. Evidence-based operational design that considers the spatial distribution of health resources and effective planning of critical care professionals are critical for efficient management of intensive care.