Measuring the Capability of Biological Incident Rescue Teams in China: A Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process Based Model — Tianjin Municipality, China, 2022–2023

INTRODUCTION: The swift advancement of biotechnology has presented both opportunities and challenges to our society, thrusting biosafety to the forefront of concern. Consequently, the evaluation of rescue capabilities in the event of a bioterrorism incident becomes of paramount importance. Currently, there is a notable absence of specific measurement criteria and a comprehensive evaluation system. This paper aims to establish a systematic approach towards assessing emergency response capabilities in the context of bioterrorism incidents. METHODS: We employed an enhanced Delphi methodology to establish an index evaluation framework. Subsequently, the weight of the judgment matrix was ascertained via the application of the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation approach. This led to the creation of a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model for bioterrorism rescue capability. RESULTS: A modified Delphi study was conducted involving 11 experts across two rounds, achieving a response rate of 100%. The Kendall coordination coefficients recorded in the first and second rounds were 0.303 and 0.632, respectively (P<0.05). Upon comprehensive analysis involving score, coefficient of variation, and full score ratio, we distinguished five primary indicators and 25 secondary indicators. Subsequently, an evaluation model was developed based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) tailored to assess the response to a rescue from bioterrorism. DISCUSSION: The expert panel confirmed consensus on all aspects of the model, validating its comprehensive content. The succeeding course of action involves converting the assessment model to a measurable scale, affirming its functionality, and implementing it in practical evaluation tasks to further enhance the capabilities of the biological incident rescue team.