A literature review of perishable medical resource management

Abstract

In recent decades, healthcare providers have faced mounting pressure to effectively manage highly perishable and limited medical resources. This article offers a comprehensive review of supply chain management pertaining to such resources, which include transplantable organs and healthcare products. The review encompasses 93 publications from 1990 to 2022, illustrating a discernible upward trajectory in annual publications. The surveyed literature is categorized into three levels: Strategic, tactical, and operational. Key problem attributes and methodologies are analyzed through the assessment of pertinent publications for each problem level. Furthermore, research on service innovation, decision analytics, and supply chain resilience elucidates potential areas for future research.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

perishable medical resources / organ transplant / healthcare products / decision analytics / operations management

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Competing Interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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