Outpatient hospitalist-run procedure service bridges the gap in oncology care

Abstract

Hospitalist-run procedure teams enable expedited care in the inpatient setting. However, wait times for outpatient interventional radiology (IR) are long at our institution. Our study thus aims to compare the safety and wait times between procedural teams and IR placement of outpatient temporary hemodialysis catheters (THDC) for patients undergoing Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy apheresis. A retrospective chart review was conducted on all patients receiving outpatient THDC for CAR-T therapy from August 2019 until November 2022. During our study period, only 7 of the central lines were placed by IR, while 75 were placed by the procedure service. The average wait time from CAR-T consenting to procedure was 8.9 days for the procedure service and 14.7 days for IR. The 30 day minor complication rate was low – 2.7% in the procedure group, and 0% in the IR group. No major complications were noted in either group