{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T04:59:34Z","timestamp":1790657974034,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":17,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790640000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"\n Objective<\/jats:title>\n To analyze the operational efficiency of clinical departments in tertiary general hospitals, thereby providing a basis for optimizing management processes and adjusting the allocation of departmental resources.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n Given the variations in the size of clinical departments and the difficulty of rapidly adjusting resource allocation in the short term, this study employed the DEA-BCC model to analyze efficiency. Using the DEA composite technical efficiency score as the dependent variable and incorporating three environmental variables\u2014departmental characteristics, designation as a national or provincial key specialty, and the proportion of doctors holding senior professional titles\u2014a Tobit regression model was utilized to analyze the factors influencing the operational efficiency of clinical departments.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n The comprehensive technical efficiency of this clinical department was 0.756, the pure technical efficiency was 0.856, and the scale efficiency was 0.888. Tobit analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between the proportion of senior-level physicians and the comprehensive technical efficiency of clinical departments; neither the department\u2019s attributes nor its status as a national or provincial key speciality reached statistical significance.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Discussion<\/jats:title>\n There are disparities in operational efficiency across clinical departments, with some departments exhibiting a mismatch between inputs and outputs. It is necessary to optimize resource allocation in line with each department\u2019s functional role and the characteristics of returns to scale while enhancing the capacity to diagnose and treat complex and critical cases, thereby achieving a synergistic improvement in both efficiency and healthcare service capacity. Compared with previous efficiency studies that treated the hospital as a whole as the decision-making unit, this study focuses on clinical departments within a tertiary general hospital. It utilizes the CMI to adjust for differences in case mix and combines this with DEA efficiency analysis, slack variables, sensitivity analysis, and department-specific contextual variables to identify variations in resource allocation at the departmental level, thereby providing guidance for refined resource management in hospitals.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1965710","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T04:46:46Z","timestamp":1790657206000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Study on the operational efficiency of clinical departments in a Grade III general hospital"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Ye","family":"Nie","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Humanities and Management, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine","place":["Changsha, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"LiangRong","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Humanities and Management, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine","place":["Changsha, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chao","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Humanities and Management, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine","place":["Changsha, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ying","family":"Du","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Humanities and Management, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine","place":["Changsha, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","first-page":"2","article-title":"The 2026 National Health and healthcare work conference was held in Beijing","volume":"34","author":"Wei","year":"2026","journal-title":"Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine Management"},{"key":"ref2","first-page":"168","article-title":"Study on the connotation, predicament and exploration of high quality development of public hospitals","volume":"40","author":"Xiong","year":"2023","journal-title":"Chinese Health Services Manag"},{"key":"ref3","first-page":"49","article-title":"Study on the operational efficiency of clinical departments in a public grade III general hospital under a multi-campus development model based on the DEA model","volume":"30","author":"Wang","year":"2026","journal-title":"Chinese Hospitals"},{"key":"ref4","first-page":"59","article-title":"A study on the allocation efficiency of medical resources in Beijing based on data envelopment analysis","volume":"17","author":"Cui","year":"2024","journal-title":"Chinese Journal of Health Policy Res"},{"key":"ref5","first-page":"11","article-title":"Study on tertiary hospitals' optimal scale based on data envelopment analysis","volume":"34","author":"Lei","year":"2014","journal-title":"Chinese Hospital Manag"},{"key":"ref6","first-page":"33","article-title":"Operational efficiency evaluation and influencing factors of clinical departments in a tertiary hospital based on DEA-Tobit model","volume":"42","author":"Wu","year":"2025","journal-title":"Hosp Manag Forum"},{"key":"ref7","first-page":"586","article-title":"Operational efficiency analysis of tertiary public hospitals in Shandong Province based on DEA-Malmquist index","volume":"39","author":"Wang","year":"2022","journal-title":"Chin Health Serv Manag"},{"key":"ref8","first-page":"60","article-title":"Performance evaluation of medical services in a public hospital based on DRG indicators\u2014\u2014taking Wuxi fifth people's hospital as an example","volume":"40","author":"Yang","year":"2026","journal-title":"Soft Sci Health"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e0293694","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0293694","article-title":"Approach in inputs and outputs selection of data envelopment analysis (DEA) efficiency measurement in hospitals: a systematic review","volume":"19","author":"Zubir","year":"2024","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1830","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1475-6773.2008.00893.x","article-title":"Hospital quality, efficiency, and input slack differentials","volume":"43","author":"Valdmanis","year":"2008","journal-title":"Health Serv Res"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"837","DOI":"10.7326\/0003-4819-157-12-201212180-00003","article-title":"Associations between reduced hospital length of stay and 30-day readmission rate and mortality: 14-year experience in 129 veterans affairs hospitals","volume":"157","author":"Kaboli","year":"2012","journal-title":"Ann Intern Med"},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1439788","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2024.1439788","article-title":"Definition and understanding of \"efficiency\" in healthcare provision research: a scoping review","volume":"12","author":"L\u00f6tscher-Stamm","year":"2024","journal-title":"Front Public Health"},{"key":"ref13","first-page":"22","article-title":"Construction and application of a unified bed allocation model based on the refined management","volume":"23","author":"Liu","year":"2025","journal-title":"Mod Hosp Manag"},{"key":"ref14","first-page":"89","article-title":"Study on the construction and improvement path of operational efficiency evaluation system in public hospitals","volume":"42","author":"Lu","year":"2025","journal-title":"Health Economics Research"},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"50","DOI":"10.14055\/j.cnki.33-1056\/f.2022.02.016","article-title":"Research on the efficiency and influencing factors of public hospitals in Hunan Province\u2014\u2014based on DEA-Tobit model","volume":"39","author":"Qin","year":"2022","journal-title":"Health Economics Research"},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1091811","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2023.1091811","article-title":"Measuring the efficiency of public hospitals: a multistage data envelopment analysis in Fujian Province, China","volume":"11","author":"Sun","year":"2023","journal-title":"Front Public Health"},{"key":"ref17","first-page":"73","article-title":"Study on the optimization of operational efficiency and resource allocation in clinical departments in general hospitals","volume":"42","author":"Gao","year":"2025","journal-title":"Health Economics Research"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Public Health"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1965710\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T04:46:51Z","timestamp":1790657211000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1965710\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]]},"references-count":17,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1965710"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1965710","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-2565"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-2565","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]]},"article-number":"1965710"}}