Patient satisfaction with a hospitalist procedure service: is bedside procedure teaching reassuring to patients?

BACKGROUND In recent years, hospital medicine programs have adopted "procedure teams" that supervise residents in performing invasive bedside procedures. The effect of procedure teams on patient satisfaction is unknown. OBJECTIVE We sought to measure patient satisfaction with procedures performed by a hospitalist-supervised, intern-based procedure service (HPS) with a focus on patient perception of bedside communication. DESIGN This was a prospective survey. METHODS We surveyed all patients referred to the HPS for bedside thoracentesis, paracentesis, lumbar puncture, and arthrocentesis at a single academic medical center. Following each procedure, surveys were administered to English-speaking patients who could provide informed consent. Survey questions focused on patients' satisfaction with specific aspects of procedure performance as well as the quality and impact of communication with the patient and between members of the team. RESULTS Of 95 eligible patients, 65 (68%) completed the survey. Nearly all patients were satisfied or very satisfied with the overall experience (100%), explanation of informed consent (98%), pain control (92%), and expertise (95%) of physicians. The majority of patients were satisfied with procedure duration (88%) and in those with therapeutic procedures most (89%) were satisfied with improvement in symptoms. Hearing physicians discuss the procedure at the bedside was reassuring to most patients (84%), who felt this to be a normal part of doing a procedure (94%). CONCLUSIONS Patients are highly satisfied with procedure performance by supervised trainees, and many patients were reassured by physician communication during the procedure. These results suggest that patient experience and teaching can be preserved with a hospitalist-supervised procedure service.