The Successful Medical School Department Chair:
A Guide to Good Institutional Practice
Resources and Tools for the Successful Chair
The challenge for the department chair is not how to find data and information—more
data are available than any one person can access in 1,000 lifetimes—but
which are best to use? What resources and tools with help the chair assess
the department's strategic mission, to help set its direction and goals,
and to aid in evaluate its progress? Which information sources will help
department chairs keep up to date with important trends in government
affairs, medical school affairs, and higher education?
The following resources can be particularly useful. While not exhaustive,
we believe this list provides a comprehensive overview of tools to help
department chairs access information to make better decisions and become
better leaders.
Data and Benchmarking for Medical Schools
AAMC's Medical School Management Resources (MSMR) web portal
This Web site is a gateway to AAMC data, research, and information relevant
to medical school organization and management. It is designed to provide
news and resources on current practice and ongoing research projects to
deans, associate deans, department chairs, business officers, and other
institutional leaders who are engaged in managing roles in medical schools.
More >>
NIH Rankings of Extramural Awards to Medical Schools
NIH provides data on the number and dollar amount of extramural awards
to U.S. medical schools. In addition to ranking medical schools based
on overall funding, NIH ranks individual medical school departments. More >>
Clinical Productivity
The Faculty Practice Solutions
Center (FPSC), sponsored by the AAMC and University HealthSystem Consortium,
offers a subscription-service database on physician clinical productivity,
departmental financial and operational management, and data from the practice
plan billing office. The FPSC contains data for approximately 35,000 clinical
faculty from over 50 academic institutions. Benchmark data are available
for over 80 unique specialties and subspecialties. Access to the FPSC
is password protected.
Practice Plan Profiles Directory
The Practice Plan Profiles Directory (PPPD) is a web-based data collection
and reporting system designed to meet the needs of faculty group practices.
This system collects comprehensive financial and organizational information
at the faculty practice plan level and allows participants to conduct
individualized queries of the database and build peer cohorts for benchmarking
and other types of analyses.
Only those institutions that submit data have access to the database.
Please contact your faculty practice plan leader to determine whether
or not your institution has participated.
Faculty and Institutional Policies Archive
The AAMC's Faculty and Institutional Policies Archive CD-ROM, searchable
by key word and institution, contains 140 faculty and institutional policies
from 81 U.S. and Canadian medical schools. With several clicks of a mouse,
users can find the exact policies on a broad range of topics, such as
appointment, tenure, and promotion; departmental policies; research policies;
and faculty governance provisions. More >>
[ Top ]
News and Information on Medical Schools and Teaching Hospitals
STAT is free
newsletter from the AAMC, emailed to subscribers each Monday morning.
"Short, Topical, and Timely" (STAT), it offers brief and immediate news
bites summarizing the latest AAMC initiatives, policy statements, and
other activities, plus relevant national news and links.
AAMC Reporter
covers major programs and initiatives at the AAMC and member institutions,
as well as the broader issues that affect the academic medical community.
Published monthly, the AAMC Reporter covers critical issues, notifies
constituents of upcoming AAMC events, and alerts readers to future shifts
in the ever-changing medical education and health care environments.
Academic Medicine,
the premier journal of its kind, publishes policy papers, analyses, essays,
research reports, and other materials covering the full range of issues
facing medical schools, teaching hospitals, academic societies, and health
policy agencies. Published monthly.
News for Basic Science and Clinical Department Chairs
The Council of Academic Societies delivers important news and information
via email to basic science chairs and clinical chairs at U.S. medical
schools. To subscribe, please use the following commands:
- For basic science department chairs:
Send an email to majordomo@aamcinfo.aamc.org.
Leave the subject line blank. In the first line of the body of the email,
type the following:
subscribe BASICMAIL [followed by your email address]
- For clinical department chairs:
Send an email to majordomo@aamcinfo.aamc.org.
Leave the subject line blank. In the first line of the body of the email,
type the following:
subscribe CLINICALMAIL [followed by your email address]
Government Affairs
The AAMC's Government Affairs & Advocacy
Web site provides information organized around legislative and regulatory
information "hubs." It provides links to related resources both within
and outside of the AAMC site.
Washington
Highlights is the AAMC's weekly news bulletin covering legislative
and regulatory events in Washington. It is published 46 times a year by
the AAMC's Office of Governmental Relations. Washington Headlines - the
electronic version of Washington Highlights - is emailed free to subscribers.
Recruitment
Academic
Physician and Scientist, a comprehensive source for recruitment
news and classified advertising in academic medicine, is a bimonthly publication.
Subscription is free to all members of the academic medical community
residing in the United States.
[ Top ]
Information on Higher Education Issues, Trends, and Practices
Chronicle of Higher Education
Published weekly, The Chronicle is
an excellent news source for college and university faculty members and
administrators. A subscription to The Chronicle includes free access to
its web site and to daily electronic-mail updates. The Chronicle also
includes an extensive advertising section on position vacancies in higher
education in the United States and abroad.
Department chair newsletters
Two newsletters are targeted specifically at college and university department
chairs. The Department
Chair is published quarterly by Anker Publishing. Academic
Leader is published monthly by Magna Publications.
Fundraising and Development
With increasing frequency, medical school department chairs find fundraising
and development among their myriad responsibilities. The Center on Philanthropy
at Indiana University
maintains a web site of helpful information. Additionally, the Fund Raising
School offers a number of training programs.
Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning
Change is an
opinion magazine dealing with contemporary issues in higher learning.
Articles cover new teaching methods, curriculum, finances, governance,
and public policy. Change is published six times a year.
Good Practice in Tenure Evaluation
American Council on Education (ACE) has a publication that offers practical
guidance to department chairs and others who contribute to tenure decisions
on how to reach outcomes that are fair and defensible. Available free
in PDF format from the American Council on Education. More >>
[ Top ]
|
