ELECTROCARDIOGRAM MONITOR SUPPLIER SELECTION BASED ON FUZZY MCDM EVALUATION METHOD

The superior electrocardiogram (EKG) monitors can help doctors to discov-er abnormalities during the early stages of heart disease, and they are considered to be indispensable clinical medical instruments. The ability of a medical institution to select a superior EKG monitor can have a major impact on the quality of its medical care. How-ever, the selection of an EKG monitor for a medical institution is not an easy decision, involving a host of complex considerations. Decision-making information is hard to come by and often vague. In view of the need to boost healthcare quality while controlling costs, an evaluation to select a suitable EKG monitor is therefore an important research topic for medical institutions. This article proposes the utilization of the fundamental princi-ples encompassed in the fuzzy set theory to analyze and consider a multiplicity of complex criteria and determines the most suitable EKG monitor among the feasible suppliers. In light of this, the main purpose of this article is to propose a fuzzy MCDM evaluation method and to perform the selection of a best EKG monitor supplier for a regional hos-pital in Taiwan. The results showed that 1) the 'quality' constitutes the most important assessment dimension for EKG monitor suppliers; 2) among the assessment influence criteria, the 'product quality certification', 'product stability', and 'maintenance technol-ogy capabilities' are the most three determinants about the selection of EKG suppliers for the regional hospital in Taiwan; 3) Brand N was the best EKG monitor supplier for the regional hospital in Taiwan. Furthermore, some discussions concerning the case study are provided in this article. The main contribution of this article is that the definition, conversion, and treatment of vague and complex multi-layer criteria as set memberships under the fuzzy set theory are employed to develop a practical model for business purpose.