Cluster analysis of experts distribution in the poll for the introduction of informatization of logistic processes in the system of medical supply of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Abstract

Currently, the Medical service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is working in the regulatory field, which is fixed by amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine at the strategic course of the state for the acquisition of full membership ofUkrainein the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The formation of the new structure of the Medical service, according to the NATO J-structure, which took place on February 5, 2020 and the direct participation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the operation of the Joint Forces, pose new complex tasks for the medical support of troops in modern conditions before the Command of the Medical Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Given the process of introducing a unified logistics system for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, adapted to the standards of NATO member countries, there is a need to transfer the organization and management of medical supplies to the Armed Forces of Ukraine to more advanced technologies and tools for managing stream processes. Particular attention in the management of stream processes must be given to their informatization.

Aim. To conduct a cluster analysis of experts distribution who took part in an expert survey on the implementation of logistics processes informatization in  medical supply system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Results. One of the necessary steps towards improving the quality and efficiency of logistics processes in institutions and units of the medical supply of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is the introduction of information technologies in these processes. In order to study the state of readiness of the medical supply system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the implementation of informatization of logistics processes, an expert survey has been conducted using a specially designed questionnaire. The experts were members of medical service and employees of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who are involved in medical supply system of the troops. The next stage of the study was the use of multifactorial and multivariate statistical analysis of expert survey results. It should be noted that in this study, all experts have been divided at their place of service into 7 groups. The 1-st group presented experts from Command of the Medical Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the 2nd group – medical warehouses of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, 3-d group – Pharmaceutical Centers (pharmacies), 4-th group – mobile medical supply groups, 5-th group – Military Medical Clinical Centers of the regions, 6-th group – Centers for the formation and storage of medical equipment and medical supplies of emergency reserves(stocks). The 7-th group included experts who did not indicate their position and place of service (anonymous respondents). Considering the type of data on the basis of which statistical processing of the research results has been carried out, we consider it to be appropriate to conduct further data processing using nonparametric methods that are nonparametric, namely the technology of hierarchical agglomeration cluster analysis and the non-hierarchical cluster method «k-Nearest Averages».

Conclusions. By applying the methods of cluster analysis, a sufficiently high level of consistency of the conclusions of experts of the medical supply system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the need for the introduction of informatization of logistics processes. Since, in the dendrogram the maximum value of “Linkage Distance” was 0,62 and the average value was 0,21. An analysis of the results showed that experts from different duty stations in the medical supply system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine support the implementation of information technology in their professional activities. The greatest consistency in the middle of their professional group has been held by experts from the Command of the Medical Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Medical Warehouses of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and Pharmaceutical Centers (pharmacies) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The clustering resulted in six clusters, which brought together experts from the medical supply system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, the number of experts grouped in each cluster was different. The difference in the composition of experts in each cluster has been also determined. Persons whose registration numbers were included as elements in such clusters belong to different groups of study participants from almost all institutions and medical supply units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Only respondents with registration numbers 1-6 – experts from the medical warehouses of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine were groupped into one small first cluster. In addition, cluster analysis provided the identification of related structural elements and their relationships in the middle of the cluster. There is a union of all experts from the first, most experts of the second group and experts from the sixth group within the same cluster. This testifies to the direct control and coordination of the Command of the Medical Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine over the medical warehouses of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Centers for the formation and storage of medical equipment and medical supplies of emergency reserves. Experts from different Military Medical Clinical Centers of the regions (group 5) and Pharmaceutical Centers (pharmacies) (group 3) joined together in each of the three clusters. This is explained by the implementation of the organization of medical supply of the Armed Forces of Ukraine according to the territorial principle in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine dated 16.11.2016 No. 608 “On approval of the administrative-territorial zones of responsibility of healthcare institutions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the organization of medical support”.