Development of an evaluation protocol for an alternative funding plan for academic pediatricians

Abstract

The goal of an alternative funding plan (AFP) is to create a funding system which acknowledges that the responsibilities of academic physicians extend beyond the provision of clinical services to significant roles in teaching, research and administrative service. An alternative funding plan was proposed for St. John's academic pediatricians, in the Child Health Program, Health Care Corporation of St. John's, Department of Pediatrics, Memorial University of Newfoundland. -- The objective of this study was to develop a comprehensive evaluation protocol for the proposed AFP which can be used to assess the impact of the AFP on: (1) providers, in terms of research, teaching, administrative and clinical care duties, (2) consumer (parent/guardian) satisfaction, (3) undergraduate medical student course satisfaction, (4) post-graduate pediatric resident satisfaction, and (5) community-based non-academic providers' pediatric workloads. -- The protocol developed in this study employed (1) questionnaires (provider and consumer satisfaction and student assessment of teaching quality), (2) provincial medical database information for non-academic physicians, (3) information gleaned from the Child Health Program, Janeway databases (patient volume, services, and waiting times), government information (overall budget changes, provider incomes) and (4) faculty information (research activities, income, administration /organizational activities, continuing education, physician recruitment and turnover and department and faculty innovations) . Selected data collection instruments and procedures for the evaluation protocol were pretested to determine their appropriateness and completeness.