Emergency Service of the University Hospital of Algarve in Faro: A Contribution of the DISTATIS Method to Classify and Prioritize its Main Issues and Challenges

Abstract

Events occurring in hospital emergency services tend to be of a chaotic and complex nature, giving rise to unique challenges, mainly in the fields of finance management, equipment, workloads and human resources. The research here presented addresses the issue, first by determining the top ten problems and challenges facing the Emergency Service of the University Hospital of Algarve in Faro and second by underlining perceptions and associated levels of importance attributed by an in-house group of specialists that assist on the unit's management process. Data was collected in two phases a) a brainstorming exercise with work-shift leaders for generation of opinions and ideas regarding the evaluation of the top ten problems; b) presentation of the top ten issues to a panel of experts who, on an individual basis, classified, categorized and ranked them. Collected data was of a multidimensional nature and it was later analysed using an innovative three-way technique, the DISTATIS method (Abdi et al., 2005; Abdi et al., 2007). In our evaluation of the expert responses, we highlighted experts whose options were characterized by similarities and differences and others with stable and unstable opinions. Final results provided information on opposition and coherence among the experts, identifying common themes and problems relevant to the organization's management and decision processes.