Building Centres of Excellence in Dental Institute to Foster Organisational Development-A Preliminary Report

Abstract

Introduction: A Centre of Excellence (CoE) can be described as an executive setting to develop benchmark of conduct in the fields of research, invention and scholarship. The CoE at Vidya Shikshan Prasarak Mandal dental college and research centre (VSPMDCRC), Nagpur, India was started in 2016 to cater to oral healthcare in rural Indian population and foster organisational development through an integrated approach. The long-term objective for establishing the CoE was to stand out as a pioneer in Central Indian region in the respective fields. Aim: The present report was aimed to preliminarily evaluate the impact of CoE through an assessment framework that was developed using a consensus building exercise with stakeholder groups and experts and present an evaluation report for the same. Materials and Methods: The CoE was planned and executed under two working units as centre for Maxillofacial rehabilitation and centre for Oral Implantology at the institute. The second phase involved assessment of CoE functioning and analysis at the end of one year using an assessment framework for quantitative data. Qualitative data was collected from stakeholders (staff, students and patients) using personal interviews and a structured validated questionnaire for assessing implementation, effectiveness, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and attribution of the CoE. The overall impact was categorised and discussed as per the excellence criteria’s modified, based on Boyer’s model of scholarship. Results: Qualitative and quantitative data analysis depicted that the current excellence intervention laid down a foundation for our institute by virtue of pillars of excellence encompassing academic development, research activities, clinical patient work, faculty development and technological and social upliftment. Conclusion: The preliminary evaluation of the current CoE program showed potential for the institutional growth in all aspects, reflected in the form of advancements in the six pillars of excellence. It also helped in fostering teamwork and collaboration, improving patient outlook towards our institution and generating better training opportunities for students.

Keywords

• logic model
• maxillofacial rehabilitation
• oral implantology