The American Thoracic Society (ATS) aims to improve global health by advancing research, patient care and public health in pulmonary disease, critical illness and sleep disorders. The ATS has established a three-level intensive programme, Methods in Epidemiologic, Clinical and Operations Research (MECOR), which has a global reach, including Africa, China, India, Indonesia, Turkey and Vietnam.
The MECOR Programme is designed to fill the research-training gap among physicians’ medical education in low and middle-income countries by strengthening capacity and leadership in epidemiological, clinical and operations research. With the MECOR programme currently under revision, the Centre for Capacity Research are taking the opportunity to conduct a high quality, prospective study to develop effective and durable indicators for measuring and monitoring the outputs and impact of the programme in the longer term. The next iteration of MECOR provides a potentially rich and unique source of data that could be used to inform both current and future skills-based programmes in the health sector.
In February 2018, the CCR held a workshop at the LSTM which engaged key stakeholders towards the development of the project’s pathway to change, identifying preliminary indicators and areas of focus. Following the workshop, the CCR conducted a thorough literature search and developed a bank of potential indicators. This research may be developed further in the future with the creation of sector specific indicators for tracking and measuring long-term outcomes and a more focussed pathway for change.
