Derivation and validation of a methodology for tracking academic stature of medical schools. Task Force on the Development of Emergency Medicine.
OBJECTIVE
To derive and validate a methodology for academic ranking of allopathic medical schools in order to track the development of emergency medicine (EM) at academic medical centers.


METHODS
A methodology for institutional ranking according to NIH research grant funding was derived by using a well-known multiaxial ordinal ranking of all Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME)-accredited allopathic schools in 1990-91 as the criterion standard. This methodology was validated against the same annually updated criterion standard in 1995-96. Both ranking schemes were first stratified by quartile, then aggregated pairwise by contiguous quartiles to develop a 3 x 3 concordance matrix.


RESULTS
Ranking by NIH grant funding produced concordance between all 126 schools in the derivation set and 123/124 schools in the validation set.


CONCLUSIONS
NIH research grant funding may be used as a valid methodology for broad categorization of allopathic medical school academic rank. This strategy should therefore serve as a suitable means of following the development of academic EM over time.
Gallagher
E J
EJ
Department of Emergency Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY 10467-2490, USA. ejg@ix.netcom.com
Henneman
P L
PL
Schropp
M A
MA
D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000592:standards*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D009316:National Institutes of Health (U.S.) / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012109:Research Support as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000145:classification / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States