title: Technical efficiency of Shiraz school of medicine in research and education domains: a data envelopment analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Efficiency evaluation of universities and faculties is one of the tools that help managers to identify the departments' strengths and weakness. The main objective of the present research was to measure and compare the technical efficiency of Shiraz school of medicine departments using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional and retrospective study was performed on clinical and non-clinical departments in research and education domains over the period of 2006 to 2011. Different inputs and outputs were considered for research and educational domain separately. Efficiency was measured based on the observed optimal performance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings showed that pathology and anatomy departments achieved the score of 100 in technical efficiency in education during 2006 to 2011. During this period, parasitology, psychiatric and pediatrics department's achieved the score of 100 for technical efficiency in research domain. The lowest mean of relative educational efficiency belonged to orthopedic department; as to relative research efficiency, the lowest mean was shown in orthopedics and genetics departments. The mean technical efficiency of non-medical departments in education and research domain was 91.93 and 76.08, respectively, while the mean technical efficiency of the clinical department in educational and research fields was 91.02 and 82.23, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Using multiple input and output in DEA technique provided a comprehensive evaluation of efficiency in Shiraz school of medicine departments. The DEA could successfully estimate the technical efficiency of the departments in research and educational fields. Moreover, the deficiency in each department was found; this could help them to plan for improvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Education, School of Medical and Center for Educational Research in Medical Sciences(CERMS), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; ; Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran;
authors.forename: Somayeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Delavari
authors.affiliation: Quality Improvement in Clinical Education Research Center, Education Development Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran;
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rezaee
authors.affiliation: Medical Management and Information School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran;
authors.forename: Nahid
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hatam
authors.affiliation: Department of Health economics and management, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Sajad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Delavari
keywords: Education; Efficiency; Medical School; Resource Allocation