Zhou Jie, Tian Xueyun, Zhang Ju, Yan Ting, Qin Jiaqi, Yang Zi, Yang Mimi
Objective To analyze the efficiency of bed allocation in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospitals, and to provide references for TCM hospitals to optimize the efficiency of bed allocation in clinical departments and improve the level of fifine management. Methods A hybrid evaluation model of data envelopment analysis and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (DEA-TOPSIS) was constructed to evaluate the efficiency of bed resource allocation in each department of TCM hospitals. Firstly, the overall changes in bed allocation efficiency of 40 clinical departments in TCM hospitals from 2018 to 2023 were evaluated by the DEA-Malmquist, with clinical departments of DEA-Malmquist index < 1 used as the decision-making unit. Secondly, differences in bed allocation efficiency of these clinical departments in 2023 were evaluated by DEA Banker-Charnes-Cooper (BCC) model. Finally, TOPSIS was applied to analyze the realistic extent to which the amount of slack in non-DEA efficient departments could be improved. Results The DEA-Malmquist index showed that 26 of the 40 clinical departments had a total factor productivity of less than 1, which was attributed to technological lag. 17 of the 26 clinical departments with a Malmquist index of < 1 remained ineffective for non-DEA in 2023. The TOPSIS model rankings showed that the top five departments to be improved were the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Department of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), First Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, First Department of Bone and Joint, and Department of Gastroenterology. Conclusion At present, the efficiency of bed allocation in TCM hospitals is generally showing a downward trend, with obvious technological lagging constraints, over-input and under-output of bed resources co-existing, and the efficiency of bed resource allocation in more than half of the clinical departments needs to be further improved. The overall bed allocation efficiency, vigorous development of specialist construction, technical progress of non-TCM departments, and the balanced development of each department should be further optimized in TCM hospitals.