Journal of Hospital Medicine Releases Position Statement on Use of Ultrasound to Guide Bedside Procedures

Credentialing Document to Lay the Foundation for Six-Part Series

Philadelphia, PA (January 26, 2018) –  The Journal of Hospital Medicine, the official peer-reviewed journal of the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM), recently released a statement, “Credentialing of Hospitalists in Ultrasound-Guided Bedside Procedures: A Position Statement of the Society of Hospital Medicine,” which is the first of a six-part series of position statements. The first statement offers recommendations for credentialing hospitalists in ultrasound guidance and proposes initial and ongoing pathways to improve how hospitalists perform these procedures. Currently available at www.hospitalmedicine.org, the statement will be printed in the February 2018 issue of the journal.

SHM’s Education Committee convened the SHM Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Task Force to take on this project as American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) diplomates are no longer expected as part of their residency training to manually perform certain bedside procedures, with or without ultrasound-guidance. Task Force membership was vetted by a chair of the SHM POCUS Task Force and the Director of Education before work began. SHM’s Board of Directors gave final approval on the statement in September 2017.

“There is much variation in the training and experience of both bedside procedures and point-of-care ultrasound. Many practicing hospitalists, for example, have no experience using ultrasound guidance for central-lines,” notes Brian P. Lucas, MD, MS, lead author for the position statement. “How then should hospitals initially, and then biennially, vet hospitalists’ competence in the performance of ultrasound-guided bedside procedures? This nationwide collaborative of experts, educators and front-line providers puts forth some recommendations to this very thorny problem.”

The statement reads, “Patient safety is […] considered paramount to cost. Nevertheless, the hospital administrative leaders and privileging committee members on our Task Force concluded that many hospitals have been seeking guidance on credentialing for bedside procedures, and the likely difficulties of implementing our recommendations (including cost) would not be prohibitive at most hospitals, especially given recognition that these recommendations can be tailored to each setting.”

The Journal of Hospital Medicine will publish five consensus statements to follow the position statement throughout 2018. The consensus statements are titled:

• Recommendations on the Use of Ultrasound Guidance for Adult Thoracentesis: A Position Statement of the Society of Hospital Medicine (also in the February issue)
• Recommendations on the Use of Ultrasound Guidance for Adult Lumbar Puncture: A Position Statement of the Society of Hospital Medicine
• Recommendations on the Use of Ultrasound Guidance for Paracentesis: A Position Statement of the Society of Hospital Medicine
• Recommendations on the Use of Ultrasound Guidance for Central and Peripheral Venous Access: A Position Statement of the Society of Hospital Medicine
• Point-of-care Ultrasound Practice Guidelines for Hospitalists: A Position Statement of the Society of Hospital Medicine

To access the position statement, visit www.journalofhospitalmedicine.org.

About SHM:

Representing the fastest growing specialty in modern healthcare, the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) is the leading medical society for more than 57,000 hospitalists and their patients. SHM is dedicated to promoting the highest quality care for all hospitalized patients and overall excellence in the practice of hospital medicine through quality improvement, education, advocacy and research. Over the past decade, studies have shown that hospitalists can contribute to decreased patient lengths of stay, reductions in hospital costs and readmission rates, and increased patient satisfaction.

For more information about SHM and hospital medicine, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org and follow SHM on Twitter at @SHMLive.

About the Journal of Hospital Medicine:

The Journal of Hospital Medicine is the premier, ISI-indexed publication for the specialty of hospital medicine and official journal of the Society of Hospital Medicine. The journal advances excellence in hospital medicine as a defined specialty through the dissemination of research, evidence-based clinical care, and advocacy of safe, effective care for hospitalized patients. For more information, please visit www.journalofhospitalmedicine.com.

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