Operating rooms are among the most critical, resource-intensive, and costly units in healthcare institutions, where efficiency and safety directly affect both clinical outcomes and organizational sustainability. Among the performance indicators of these environments, turnover time (TOT)—defined as the interval between the completion of one surgical procedure and the initiation of the next—has emerged as a strategic benchmark. Prolonged TOT not only restricts surgical capacity and reduces patient throughput but also increases operational costs and poses risks for patient safety. Consequently, optimizing TOT is an imperative issue in healthcare management. This study sought to evaluate the key factors influencing operating room turnover time using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approaches. Specifically, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy AHP (FAHP) methods were employed to capture both deterministic evaluations and the uncertainties inherent in healthcare processes. Comparative analyses between the two approaches highlighted both convergences and divergences in factor prioritization. Results demonstrated that human-related aspects—particularly staff fatigue and performance monitoring capacity—were consistently identified as the most influential determinants in both methods. In contrast, tangible process-related elements such as cleaning efficiency and patient transfer ranked higher in the AHP, whereas training initiatives and technology-based applications gained importance under the uncertain conditions modeled by the FAHP. The findings emphasize the need to adopt a holistic strategy that integrates human resource management, streamlined process design, and advanced technological solutions. By aligning operational practices with evidence-based prioritization, healthcare institutions can reduce inefficiencies, improve patient safety, and enhance cost-effectiveness in surgical care delivery.
Seyda GÜR (Sat,) studied this question.