MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS METHODS FOR MEDICAL DECISION MAKING

Format Requirements: The course will be divided into two sections. The first will be a brief, didactic overview of MCDA. The second will consist of an interactive, hands-on illustration of how to use the AHP to address a medical decision. Course materials will include pertinent references, sources of ongoing information about multi-criteria methods, and information about available software tools. The only course requirement is a general knowledge of and interest in medical decision making.

Many medical decisions involve complex trade-offs between alternatives that offer different sets of advantages and disadvantages. These decisions are further complicated by the ever-present uncertainty about future outcomes, insufficient data, practical constraints, and the involvement of multiple stakeholders. A variety of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods have been developed to help both individuals and groups make better decisions in circumstances like these. They have been successfully applied in both medical and non-medical settings to improve the quality of the decision making process, enhance communication among involved stakeholders, and to study decision-making.

Objectives and Course Description:
The overall goal of this course is to provide participants with a practical introduction to the use of MCDA methods in medical decision making. The course objectives are:

1. To acquaint participants with multi-criteria decision analysis and the range of MCDA methods available.
2. To teach participants how to analyze a medical problem using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), a widely used multi-criteria method.
3. To introduce participants to the Analytic Network Process (ANP), a  more generalized extension of the AHP

Format, Requirements, Target Audience:
The course will be divided into two sections. The first will be a brief, didactic overview of MCDA.  The second will consist of an interactive, hands-on illustration of how to use the AHP to address a medical decision. Course materials will include pertinent references, sources of ongoing information about multi-criteria methods, and information about available software tools. The only course requirement is a general knowledge of and interest in medical decision making.