SIMPLE procedures: Survey of Internal Medicine Providers' Limitations and Experiences with procedures and medical procedure services

Abstract

BackgroundIn response to a decline in bedside procedures performed by hospitalists, some hospital medicine groups have created medical procedure services (MPSs) concentrating procedures under the expertise of trained hospitalist‐proceduralists.ObjectivesTo characterize the structure, breadth, and heterogeneity of academic medical center MPSs, as well as compare the procedural landscape for groups with and without an MPS.MethodsThe Survey of Internal Medicine Providers' Limitations and Experiences with Procedures and MPSs, is a cross‐sectional study, conducted in the United States and Canada through a web‐based survey administered from October 2022 to March 2023. We used convenience and snowball sampling to identify eligible study participants. The survey explored presence of MPS, procedure volumes, patient safety, and educational practices. For MPSs, we explored onboarding, staffing, skill maintenancy, funding, and barriers to growth.ResultsForty institutions (response rate 97.5%), represented by members of the Procedural Research and Innovation for Medical Educators (PRIME) consortium participated in the survey. MPSs were found in 75% of the surveyed institutions. Most MPSs (97%) involved trainees and were staffed by internists (100%) who often had additional clinical duties (70%). The majority (83%) of MPSs used checklists and procedural safety guidelines, but only 53% had a standardized process for tracking complications. There was significant variability in determining procedural competency and supervising trainees. Groups with an MPS reported higher procedure volume compared to those without.ConclusionsMPSs were highly prevalent among the participating institutions, offered a broad array of bedside procedures, and often included trainees. There was a high variability in funding models, procedure volumes, patient safety practices, and skill maintenance requirements.