IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0315218.html

Configurations associated with the efficiency of the ophthalmology departments in public hospitals of Central South China

Author

Listed:
  • Yimeng Li
  • Yao Chen
  • Bosheng Ma
  • Jyu-lin Chen
  • Jie Zhong
  • Yan Jiang
  • Jing Luo
  • Jia Guo

Abstract

Background: Improving the efficiency of ophthalmology service is a global challenge to fight vision impairment, yet there is little concrete evidence of the current efficiency status. This study aimed to examine the efficiency of ophthalmology departments in the Hunan Province, China, and determine the associating factors of low-efficiency and high-efficiency ophthalmology departments. Methods: This cross-sectional study included a province-level survey of ophthalmology departments of public hospitals. All the ophthalmology departments of public hospitals in Hunan Province were invited to complete an online survey on ophthalmic competence resources. Bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis was conducted to describe the service efficiency status of the ophthalmology departments using Maxdea (version 8.0) software. Then, we employed Fuzzy Set-Qualitative Comparative Analysis to explore the recipes of low-efficiency and high-efficiency ophthalmology departments using Fs-QCA (version 3.0) software. Results: One hundred and ninety-five ophthalmology departments (87 in tertiary and 108 in secondary public hospitals) completed the survey. The mean efficiency score was 0.78 for ophthalmology departments in tertiary hospitals and 0.82 for secondary hospitals. The number of ophthalmologists and equipment positively contributed to the efficiency of ophthalmology departments in tertiary and secondary hospitals. While increasing the bed capacity was not always beneficial to improving the efficiency of ophthalmology departments in secondary hospitals. For ophthalmology departments in tertiary hospitals, simply increasing the number of nurses did not universally increase efficiency unless there were enough ophthalmologists and equipment to support the nurses’ work. This study also revealed 2 configurations for ophthalmology departments in secondary hospitals and 5 configurations for those in tertiary hospitals that could guide their efficiency improvement efforts. Conclusions: Moderate efficiency levels in ophthalmology departments at both tertiary and secondary hospitals were found. Prioritizing the number of ophthalmologists and equipment was recommended to achieve high efficiency for ophthalmology departments in tertiary and secondary hospitals. We also proposed that blindly increasing the number of beds and nurses was meaningless, and ophthalmology departments should flex the bed capacity and number of nurses after premising having high numbers of ophthalmologists and equipment.

Suggested Citation

  • Yimeng Li & Yao Chen & Bosheng Ma & Jyu-lin Chen & Jie Zhong & Yan Jiang & Jing Luo & Jia Guo, 2024. "Configurations associated with the efficiency of the ophthalmology departments in public hospitals of Central South China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(12), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0315218
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0315218
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0315218
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0315218&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0315218?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Léopold Simar & Paul W. Wilson, 1998. "Sensitivity Analysis of Efficiency Scores: How to Bootstrap in Nonparametric Frontier Models," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(1), pages 49-61, January.
    2. Kamini Gupta & Donal Crilly & Thomas Greckhamer, 2020. "Stakeholder engagement strategies, national institutions, and firm performance: A configurational perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(10), pages 1869-1900, October.
    3. Mette Asmild & Bruce Hollingsworth & Stephen Birch, 2013. "The scale of hospital production in different settings: one size does not fit all," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 197-206, October.
    4. Matthias Klumpp & Dominic Loske & Silvio Bicciato, 2022. "COVID-19 health policy evaluation: integrating health and economic perspectives with a data envelopment analysis approach," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(8), pages 1263-1285, November.
    5. Daniel Bilodeau & Pierre-Yves Cremieux & Pierre Ouellette, 2009. "Hospital performance in a noncompetitive environment," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(4), pages 459-468.
    6. Simar, Leopold & Wilson, Paul W., 2007. "Estimation and inference in two-stage, semi-parametric models of production processes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 31-64, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dinesh R. Pai & Fatma Pakdil & Nasibeh Azadeh-Fard, 2024. "Applications of data envelopment analysis in acute care hospitals: a systematic literature review, 1984–2022," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 284-312, June.
    2. Franz R. Hahn, 2007. "Determinants of Bank Efficiency in Europe. Assessing Bank Performance Across Markets," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 31499.
    3. Alfred A. Haug & Vincent C. Blackburn, 2017. "Government secondary school finances in New South Wales: accounting for students’ prior achievements in a two-stage DEA at the school level," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 69-83, August.
    4. Nolwenn Roudaut & Anne Vanhems, 2012. "Explaining firms efficiency in the Ivorian manufacturing sector: a robust nonparametric approach," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 155-169, April.
    5. Isabel-María García-Sánchez & Luis Rodríguez-Domínguez & Javier Parra-Domínguez, 2013. "Yearly evolution of police efficiency in Spain and explanatory factors," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 21(1), pages 31-62, January.
    6. Santos, Joana & Simões, Pedro & Costa, Álvaro & Cunha Marques, Rui, 2010. "Efficiency of the Portuguese metros. is it different from other European metros?," MPRA Paper 34904, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Choi, Kanghwa, 2017. "Multi-period efficiency and productivity changes in US domestic airlines," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 18-25.
    8. Kristof De Witte & Rui Marques, 2010. "Designing performance incentives, an international benchmark study in the water sector," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 18(2), pages 189-220, June.
    9. Essid, Hédi & Ouellette, Pierre & Vigeant, Stéphane, 2010. "Measuring efficiency of Tunisian schools in the presence of quasi-fixed inputs: A bootstrap data envelopment analysis approach," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 589-596, August.
    10. A. Assaf & K. M. Matawie, 2010. "A bootstrapped metafrontier model," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(6), pages 613-617.
    11. Son Nghiem & Ha Trong Nguyen & Luke B. Connelly, 2016. "The Efficiency of Australian Schools: A Nationwide Analysis Using Gains in Test Scores of Students as Outputs," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 35(3), pages 256-268, September.
    12. Laure Latruffe & Sophia Davidova & Kelvin Balcombe, 2008. "Application of a double bootstrap to investigation of determinants of technical efficiency of farms in Central Europe," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 183-191, April.
    13. Wijesiri, Mahinda & Yaron, Jacob & Meoli, Michele, 2017. "Assessing the financial and outreach efficiency of microfinance institutions: Do age and size matter?," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 63-76.
    14. Thanh Ngo & Kan Wai Hong Tsui, 2022. "Estimating the confidence intervals for DEA efficiency scores of Asia-Pacific airlines," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 3411-3434, September.
    15. Karin Larsén, 2010. "Effects of machinery‐sharing arrangements on farm efficiency: evidence from Sweden," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(5), pages 497-506, September.
    16. Santos, Micael & Rodríguez, Xosé A. & Marta-Costa, Ana, 2020. "Efficiency analysis of viticulture systems in the Portuguese Douro region," MPRA Paper 128918, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Kaffash, Sepideh & Azizi, Roza & Huang, Ying & Zhu, Joe, 2020. "A survey of data envelopment analysis applications in the insurance industry 1993–2018," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 284(3), pages 801-813.
    18. Dag Edvardsen & Finn Førsund & Sverre Kittelsen, 2008. "Far out or alone in the crowd: a taxonomy of peers in DEA," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 201-210, June.
    19. José Solana-Ibáñez & Manuel Caravaca-Garratón & Lorena Para-González, 2016. "Two-Stage Data Envelopment Analysis of Spanish Regions: Efficiency Determinants and Stability Analysis," Contemporary Economics, Vizja University, vol. 10(3), September.
    20. Castillo, Leopoldo Laborda & Guasch, Jose Luis, 2012. "Overdraft facility policy and firm performance : an empirical analysis in eastern European Union industrial firms," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6101, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0315218. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.