Enhancing clinical and non-clinical risk management: A case study using ELECTRE Tri-nC

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Decision Analysis
• Risk Management

Background:

• Adverse events in healthcare pose significant challenges to hospital management.
• Existing risk management tools struggle with systematic, long-term risk evaluation.
• Healthcare institutions require improved methods for monitoring risk dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) framework for assessing clinical and non-clinical risk evolution.
• To apply the ELECTRE Tri-nC method for retrospective risk analysis in a hospital setting.
• To provide a structured approach for identifying critical risk periods and informing mitigation strategies.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the ELECTRE Tri-nC method, a multi-criteria decision analysis technique.
• A panel of experts evaluated twelve criteria over five years (2018-2022) at Hospital da Luz Lisboa.
• Classified quarterly risk data into five predefined risk categories, considering non-compensatory indicators and expert thresholds.

Main Results:

• Identified critical periods of heightened clinical and non-clinical risks within the hospital.
• Demonstrated the importance of analyzing risk trends over time rather than isolated incidents.
• Stability analysis confirmed model robustness and sensitivity to credibility threshold adjustments.

Conclusions:

• The proposed MCDA framework offers a transparent and structured method for retrospective hospital risk analysis.
• The approach supports healthcare decision-makers in designing timely and targeted risk mitigation strategies.
• The methodology is adaptable for use in diverse hospital settings to enhance patient safety.