The influence of a Vascular Surgery Hospitalist program on physician and patient satisfaction, resident education, and resource utilization.
A number of surgery practice models have been developed to address general and trauma surgeon workforce shortages and on-call issues and to improve surgeon satisfaction. These include the creation of acute or urgent care surgery services and "surgical hospitalist" programs. To date, no practice models corresponding to those developed for general and trauma surgeons have been proposed to address these same issues among vascular surgeons or other surgical subspecialists. In 2003, our practice established a Vascular Surgery Hospitalist program. Since its inception nearly a decade ago, it has undergone several modifications. We reviewed hospital administrative databases and surveys of faculty, residents, and patients to evaluate the program's impact. Benefits of the Vascular Surgery Hospitalist program include improved surgeon satisfaction, resource utilization, timeliness of patient care, communication among referring physicians and ancillary staff, and resident teaching/supervision. Elements of this program may be applicable to a variety of surgical subspecialty settings.
Department of Surgery, University of South Carolina School of Medicine-Greenville, Greenville Hospital System/University Medical Center, Greenville, SC. Electronic address: dcull@ghs.org.
David L
DL
Cull
Eugene M
EM
Langan
Spence M
SM
Taylor
Christopher G
CG
Carsten
Angie
A
Tong
Brent
B
Johnson
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003479:Curriculum; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000458:organization & administration; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006295:Health Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017721:Hospital Costs; D020445:Hospitalists / Q000458:organization & administration; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000458:organization & administration; D017146:Models, Organizational; D010348:Patient Care Team; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011216:Practice Management, Medical / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration