Dilts David M, Zell Adrienne, Orwoll Eric
Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Oregon Clinical & Translational Research Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Clin Transl Sci. 2015 Oct;8(5):495-501. doi: 10.1111/cts.12303. Epub 2015 Aug 3.
Measuring the efficiency of resource allocation for the conduct of scientific projects in medical research is difficult due to, among other factors, the heterogeneity of resources supplied (e.g., dollars or FTEs) and outcomes expected (e.g., grants, publications). While this is an issue in medical science, it has been approached successfully in other fields by using data envelopment analysis (DEA). DEA has a number of advantages over other techniques as it simultaneously uses multiple heterogeneous inputs and outputs to determine which projects are performing most efficiently, referred to as being at the efficiency frontier, when compared to others in the data set.
This research uses DEA for the evaluation of supported translational science projects by the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute (OCTRI), a NCATS Clinical & Translational Science Award (CTSA) recipient.
These results suggest that the primary determinate of overall project efficiency at OCTRI is the amount of funding, with smaller amounts of funding providing more efficiency than larger funding amounts.
These results, and the use of DEA, highlight both the success of using this technique in helping determine medical research efficiency and those factors to consider when distributing funds for new projects at CTSAs.
衡量医学研究中科学项目开展的资源分配效率颇具难度，原因诸多，包括所提供资源（如资金或全时当量）的异质性以及预期成果（如资助、出版物）的异质性。虽然这是医学领域的一个问题，但在其他领域已通过使用数据包络分析（DEA）成功解决。与其他技术相比，DEA具有诸多优势，因为它同时使用多个异质输入和输出，以确定哪些项目在与数据集中的其他项目相比时效率最高，即处于效率前沿。
本研究使用DEA评估俄勒冈临床与转化研究所以及国家推进转化科学中心临床与转化科学奖（CTSA）获得者所支持的转化科学项目。
这些结果表明，俄勒冈临床与转化研究所项目总体效率的主要决定因素是资金数额，资金数额较少的项目比资金数额较大的项目效率更高。
这些结果以及DEA的使用，凸显了使用该技术在帮助确定医学研究效率方面的成功，以及在为CTSA的新项目分配资金时需要考虑的因素。
