OBJECTIVES:

Academic Medical Caters (AMCs) have a public vocation, simultaneously serving two different purposes: Delivery of patient care as the main mission, supported by a variety of academic activities, while assuring high quality healthcare services and meeting budget targets.

Since the literature showed that no model measuring AMCs academic quality was introduced, this study aim was to develop a methodology for constructing models evaluating the academic quality provided by AMCs.

METHODS

: In 2016 a list of AMCs' academic quality indicators (AQIs) was drafted, using a literature review and consulting scholars. Afterwards, additional data and preferences were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with academic content experts and executives, at a metropolitan, 1,500-bed AMC.

The study was complemented by a three-round Delphi panel, with the participation of practiced educators and researchers, academic experts, faculty members and executives. Finally, utilizing a composite indicator method on the meaningful AQIs, a new methodology for developing an academic quality evaluation model for AMCs was constructed.

RESULTS:

Thirty five content experts were involved in developing that methodology, consisting of the following nine AQIs (relative weight in parentheses): 'Paper's quality' (18.6%), 'Completed studies' (13.6%), 'Author's quality' (13.1%), 'Resident's quality' (11.4%), 'Competitive grants funding' (10.1%), 'Academic Training' (8.6%), 'Academic degree' (8.5%), 'Number of' studies' (8.3%), and 'Academic supervision' (7.8%). These AQIs were grouped into three core categories: 'Education', 'Research' and 'Publications', having almost the same importance (0.363, 0.320, and 0.317, respectively). The results demonstrated a high level of internal consistency (Cronbach-alpha range: .79 – .86).

CONCLUSIONS:

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic study exploring AMCs' academic value. The main contribution of this research is a reliable methodology for constructing evaluation models for AMCs' academic performance. In practice, the proposed methodology will be implemented as a managerial measurement tool, benchmarking the academic values of the studied AMC wards.