Enhancing hospital resilience and planning capacity in scenarios of crisis using group decision‐making and interpretive structural modeling

Abstract

Hospitals, as critical infrastructures, confront multifaceted challenges during crises, ranging from natural disasters to pandemics. Initially, these facilities must secure essential emergency support functions and, subsequently, expedite their recovery from any adverse impacts. Hospital resilience, influenced by numerous variables and assessed through various evaluation criteria, remains enigmatic in terms of relationships and hierarchy among these factors. By integrating group decision-making and interpretive structural modeling, this study delves into determinants of practices bolstering hospital resilience from an internal management perspective. While the empirical results offer insights specific to the study context, the primary contribution is in the innovative methodology that shifts the emphasis from mere outputs to the intrinsic value of the process itself. Consequently, a hierarchical model of hospital resilience emerges, enriching insights into hospital resilience and highlighting the intricate balance between methodological rigor and tangible application, additionally serving as a blueprint for similar context-specific investigations. The research culminated in a consolidation session with an external expert, who assessed the model's applicability as a tool for generating new knowledge about developing hospital resilience management. Advantages and limitations are also discussed.