An Analytical Hierarchy Process to Decision Making in Human Blood, Cells, and Tissue Banks

The decisions are critical in transfusion and transplantation principally because they could affect directly and indirectly the post‐transfusion and post‐transplantation safety. However, the blood, cells, and tissues banks should not be uniquely centered in the satisfaction of receptor (patient) requirements. All the decisions affecting the sustaina‐ bility of the organization should also be considered. Despite not to be systematically used in these banks, the analytical hierarchy process could be useful for the improve‐ ment in the reliability of the decisions. This chapter reviews the basics of the analyti‐ cal hierarchy process applied to the production of blood, cells, and tissues, and presents a case study that could be interpreted as applicable to other situations in these organizations.