A hybrid policy making framework for IoT application in healthcare considering uncertainty and robustness

Considering the role of Internet of Things (IoT) technology to achieve sustainable health, the issue of identifying and prioritizing IoT applications in the health field is one of the main challenges for its policy makers, which has been addressed by many researchers. This paper presents a hybrid framework designed to address challenges and assist health policymakers in leveraging IoT technology effectively: The most important applications of IoT in the hospital have been identified based on a systematic literature review as well as the opinions of experts. By combining the developed method of group BWM-G and 4 ranking methods (SAW-G, TOPSIS-G, ARAS-G and EDAS-G), IoT applications in the hospital sector have been prioritized based on SD criteria and sub-criteria. Sensitivity analysis has been conducted to identify the most critical criterion and determine the robust ranking method. The proposed steps have been applied to a case study to illustrate how this framework can be used in practice. The research shows that hospital care and treatment applications are most important for improving community health. Technologies like real-time patient monitoring and smart resource management help hospitals run sustainably and are ready for investment. To achieve sustainable development goals, the government should focus on these priorities and formulate appropriate policies to fully benefit from these technologies.