The Impact of a Minimally-Invasive Gynecologic Surgeon on Surgical Volume of Academic Gynecologists

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine if adding a fellowship-trained minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon (MIGS) would decrease average surgical volumes of physician specialists (generalists) and subspecialists in an academic obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) department.Materials and Methods: The study compared surgical data of general OBGYN, Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery, and Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility physicians in an academic OBGYN department before and after the hire of a MIGS. Surgical data (volume of surgeries [major and minor; with and without endometriosis], and case minutes for the surgeries) were collected for all of the other physicians from July 2015 to June 2021. Clinical full-time equivalents (FTEs) per academic year, corrected for hire date and medical leaves (cFTE), were collected for each physician each academic year.Results: MIGS surgical volume grew from 95 cases in year 1 to 213 cases by year 4. Case volumes were unchanged for any subspecialty after the hire of the MIGS, with and without adjustment for cFTE. Within each group, there were no differences over time in subcategories of major cases, minor cases, and endometriosis cases. Case durations did not change.Conclusions: Adding a MIGS to the department's surgical practice did not decrease surgical volumes for benign gynecologic surgical specialty or subspecialty practices. This information can help overcome concerns of faculty members of when considering whether to add a fellowship-trained MIGS to a practice. (J GYNECOL SURG 20XX:000)