A Model for Evaluating and Selecting the Food Suppliers for Hospitals in Indeterminate Conditions

Nutrition and nutrition are among the most important parts of hospitals to generalize the process of improving and enhancing patient satisfaction, and choosing the right provider, considering the appropriate criteria, can be very effective in creating this satisfaction and improving the nutrition and health process of patients in hospitals.

The statistical population of this study was the food supply department of hospitals of West Azarbaijan province and the study sample was Shahid Taleghani hospital of Urmia. Initially, by conducting field and library studies and reviewing the research, the most important criteria for the selection of hospital food suppliers were identified. Seven criteria were evaluated by applying the best-worst fuzzy method and the weight of each criterion was determined. Finally, the top suppliers were identified using fuzzy gray relationship analysis method.

Based on the findings, the criteria were prioritized in terms of quality, delivery time, trust, price, responsiveness, skilled manpower, and lack of surplus production. Also, according to the weight of the criteria, out of 5 existing suppliers, the top supplier was identified.

The proposed approach of the present study can be used for decision making in the selection of hospital food suppliers. Compared to similar studies, the role of criteria such as quality, delivery time, trust, price in the selection of suppliers was confirmed. In addition, it is easier to implement the method and have faster access to the final answer compared to other methods of weighting the criteria and ranking the options.