Application of Operational Research Techniques in the Assessment of Health Information Technology

Operational research as an evaluation strategy can be effectively used in the evaluation of health information technology. This study was conducted to evaluate the application of operational research technique in the assessment of health information technology.

This is a review article. In order to collect data, English-language studies on the use of operational research in the assessment of health information technology, which were published in Scopus, MEDLINE, and ScienceDirect databases between 2000 and 2018, were investigated. Of 251 retrieved studies, 14 studies met the inclusion criteria.

It was revealed that different techniques of operational research such as simulation, analytical hierarchy process, linear programming, and data envelopment analysis, were used in the health information technology assessment, among which simulation was the most widely used technique.

Operational research techniques prevent the trial and error in the selection process by providing detailed scientific approaches to decision-makers in different sections of health care, and provide proper situations for reducing the costs.