An audit of complications from non physician-led implantable cardiac monitor procedures: A 5-year single-centre experience

In 2019, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust launched a nonphysician-led service for implantable cardiac monitor (ICM) implantation, initially led by 2 cardiac scientists. Cardiac scientists in the United Kingdom are responsible for programming cardiac implantable electronic devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators. As clinical scientists, cardiac scientists are registered professionals governed by the Health and Care Professions Council. This service was introduced to address an increasing waiting list for patients awaiting ICM implantation, which at the time exceeded 6 months.

Over the following 5 years, the team expanded to include 2 nurses and 2 additional cardiac scientists. Existing literature supports the safety of ICM implants by trained nonmedical staff1 and demonstrates a positive impact on workforce capacity and retention.2 Careful monitoring through audit of the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust nonphysician-led ICM implant service prioritised patient safety.
The audit aimed to evaluate the safety of the nonphysician-led ICM implant service by accurately documenting any procedure-related complications.

ICM implantation procedures performed by physicians were excluded from the audit.

Outputs

https://www.heartrhythmcasereports.com/article/S2214-0271(25)00226-X/fulltext