Study on the Localization of Fangcang Shelter Hospitals During Pandemic Outbreaks

Abstract

In the event of pandemic, it is essential for government authority to implement responses to control the pandemic and protect people's health with rapidity and efficicency. In this study, we first develop an evaluation framework consisting of the entropy weight method (EWM) and the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to identify the preliminary selection of Fangcang shelter hospitals; next, we consider the timeliness of isolation and treatment of patients with different degrees of severity of the infectious disease, with the referral to and triage in Fangcang shelter hospitals characterized and two optimization models developed. The computational results of Model 1 and Model 2 are compared and analyzed. A case study in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, is used to demonstrate the real-life applicability of the proposed models. The two-stage localization method gives decision-makers more options in case of emergencies and can effectively designate the location. This article may give recommendations of and new insights into parameter settings in isolation hospital for governments and public health managers.

Keywords: COVID-19; EWM-TOPSIS method; Fangcang shelter hospital; healthcare management; hierarchical progressive location; pandemic outbreak; two-level hierarchical model.