Derivation and validation of a methodology for tracking academic stature of medical schools

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. Conclusion: 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.