Abstract: Objective To develop a scientific, systematic, and operational evaluation indicator system for clinical skills examination bases of the qualification examination for clinical category physicians in China, to explore its construction methodology and theoretical basis, and to inform the standardized construction and quality improvement. Methods An initial indicator pool was constructed through literature review and semi-structured interviews. Based on the Context-Input-Process-Product model and stakeholder theory, an indicator framework was established. From December 2025 to February 2026, 16 experts familiar with the construction and operation of clinical skills examination bases were selected through purposive sampling in collaboration with the National Medical Examination Center. Two rounds of Delphi consultation were conducted for indicator screening and revision, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process was employed to determine indicator weights at all levels. Seven representative bases from eastern, central, and western China were selected for empirical evaluation. Results Both rounds of expert consultation yielded 16 valid questionnaires. The expert authority coefficient was 0.944 (judgment basis: 0.950, familiarity: 0.938). The Kendall′s coefficients of concordance for the first round ranged from 0.378 to 0.392 (all P<0.05), and for the second round from 0.416 to 0.450 (all P<0.001), indicating good expert consensus. The final evaluation indicator system comprised three primary indicators (Basic Support, Process Quality, and Final Outputs), ten secondary indicators, and 33 tertiary indicators. Among the primary indicators, Process Quality had the highest weight, followed by Basic Support and Final Outputs. The comprehensive scores of the seven clinical skills examination bases ranged from 71.59 to 93.61, showing significant differences among bases. Conclusions The evaluation indicator system for clinical skills examination bases of the qualification examination for clinical category physicians developed in this study has a solid theoretical foundation, scientific methodology, and high expert recognition. It can serve as an effective tool for the standardized construction and quality improvement of examination bases, and its construction methodology has good practical application value and policy implications.

Key words: Evaluation studies, Physician qualification examination, Clinical skills examination bases, Evaluation indicator system