The primary goal of the Evaluation and Tracking team is to provide rigorous, high quality, timely feedback on both performance and outcomes for the Weill Cornell Clinical Translational Science Center (CTSC). As internal evaluators, the Evaluation key function provides crucial input regarding the management of the CTSC and offers a major source of feedback to colleagues at CTSC. The Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) effort at the CTSC works in tandem with the Evaluation and Tracking team to drive data-informed decision-making in program design and implementation. The goal of CQI is to achieve a more effective and efficient CTSC through enriched understanding of our successes and areas of opportunity.
The Evaluation and Tracking team is engaged in a full range of evaluation activities in concert with all CTSC key functions using methods that range from fundamental evaluation techniques to emerging cutting edge methods and metrics. Through CQI, we ensure that our measurement is targeted and the resulting data is used to drive progress and innovation. Our central focus is on the evaluation of translational research and training innovations in a networked system that is integrated with our performance management initiatives, leveraging synergies between our local CTSC hub, our multi-hub collaborators, and the national network.
Local CTSA Evaluation and Improvement: The foundation of our evaluation capability is the comprehensive range of local data that we collect about hub processes and outcomes. Each CTSC Core has a set of metrics and measures aligned with the Core’s objectives and processes. With the Informatics Core we have integrated this evaluation approach into the CTSC management information system (WebCAMP). All regularly collected hub-level information is entered into WebCAMP. These metrics are augmented with a wide variety of additional data such as case studies, interviews, surveys, and progress reports, which provide qualitative detail necessary for a full understanding of quantitative metric results. The CTSC Performance Management Committee (PMC) meets monthly to review performance trends and opportunities, and to facilitate feedback loops with Cores for improvement recommendations and supports. PMC coordinates and synthesizes the efforts of the Administration, Evaluation & Continuous Quality Improvement resulting in greater efficiencies.
Multi-Hub Evaluation Projects: At the national level, the CTSC has engaged in multi-hub collaborative pilot studies of locally-originated innovations. The CTSC Evaluation Core has a proven track record of establishing multi-hub teams committed to evaluating pilot projects to assess methodologies and interventions. These multi-hub studies have traditionally included both evaluators and relevant core representatives from each participating hub. These multi-hub projects have focused on mutual areas of interest (e.g. bibliometrics, IRB duration), and have brought together evaluators from across the CTSC network to study these systems and publish their results.
National Network: At the national network level, we will build on and extend our leadership roles in addressing major evaluation and quality improvement opportunities and in disseminating successful results.