Surgical Proctoring for Gynecologic Surgery

Surgical proctoring allows a hospital's credentialing committee to objectively monitor, regulate, or oversee surgical privileging for its medical staff to ensure the safety and quality of care for its patients. The surgical proctor does not participate directly in patient care and does not establish a patient-physician relationship before the procedure and therefore is under no obligation to intervene if an intraoperative complication occurs or substandard care is witnessed. Good Samaritan legislation enacted in every state should provide immunity for the proctoring physician if intervention is necessary. Teleproctoring may become the most cost-effective method for institutions that are unable to identify a local proctor for surgical privileging.