Journal article
A Web-based database for pathology faculty effort reporting
Human pathology, Vol.39(4), pp.489-497
2008
DOI: 10.1016/j.humpath.2007.10.033
PMID: 18342660
Abstract
To ensure appropriate mission-based budgeting and equitable distribution of funds for faculty salaries, our compensation committee developed a pathology-specific effort reporting database. Principles included the following: (1) measurement should be done by web-based databases; (2) most entry should be done by departmental administration or be relational to other databases; (3) data entry categories should be aligned with funding streams; and (4) units of effort should be equal across categories of effort (service, teaching, research). MySQL was used for all data transactions (http://dev.mysql.com/downloads), and scripts were constructed using PERL (http://www.perl.org). Data are accessed with forms that correspond to fields in the database. The committee's work resulted in a novel database using pathology value units (PVUs) as a standard quantitative measure of effort for activities in an academic pathology department. The most common calculation was to estimate the number of hours required for a specific task, divide by 2080 hours (a Medicare year) and then multiply by 100. Other methods included assigning a baseline PVU for program, laboratory, or course directorship with an increment for each student or staff in that unit. With these methods, a faculty member should acquire approximately 100 PVUs. Some outcomes include (1) plotting PVUs versus salary to identify outliers for salary correction, (2) quantifying effort in activities outside the department, (3) documenting salary expenditure for unfunded research, (4) evaluating salary equity by plotting PVUs versus salary by sex, and (5) aggregating data by category of effort for mission-based budgeting and long-term planning.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- A Web-based database for pathology faculty effort reporting
- Creators
- Fred R DEE - Department of Pathology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, United StatesThomas H HAUGEN - Department of Pathology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, United StatesPhilip A WYNN - Department of Pathology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, United StatesTimothy C LEAVEN - Department of Pathology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, United StatesJohn D KEMP - Department of Pathology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, United StatesMichael B COHEN - Department of Pathology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Human pathology, Vol.39(4), pp.489-497
- Publisher
- Elsevier; New York, NY
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.humpath.2007.10.033
- PMID
- 18342660
- ISSN
- 0046-8177
- eISSN
- 1532-8392
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2008
- Academic Unit
- Pathology
- Record Identifier
- 9984047685402771
Metrics
25 Record Views