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Related Experiment Videos

Colonoscopy training: the need for patience (patients).

James Church1, John Oakley, Jeff Milsom

  • 1Department of Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio 44195, USA. churchj@ccf.org

ANZ Journal of Surgery
|June 21, 2002
PubMed
Summary

Learning colonoscopy takes at least 100 cases to achieve proficiency, with 125 cases leading to a 75% success rate. Early colonoscopy experience can be discouraging for trainees.

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Area of Science:

  • Gastroenterology
  • Medical Education

Background:

  • Colonoscopy is a complex procedure to learn, with initial experiences often proving discouraging for trainees.
  • Proficiency is typically measured by cecal intubation completion rates.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To document the learning curve for colonoscopy.
  • To define normal progress during the early learning phase for trainees.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective recording of completion rates and procedure times for 18 trainees over 5 years.
  • Analysis of trainee performance in chronological blocks of 25 cases.
  • Definition of completion rate as trainee cecal intubation success relative to staff performance.

Main Results:

  • Mean trainee completion rate was 56.4%, with significant variation (27.8-83.9%).

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  • Completion rates improved with experience: 43.1% (0-25 cases) to 75.1% (101-125 cases).
  • Procedure time remained consistent across experience levels.

    • Conclusions:

    • A minimum of 100 colonoscopies are required for trainees to reach a two-thirds completion rate.
    • Approximately 125 cases are needed to achieve an average 75% cecal intubation success rate.
    • The learning curve for colonoscopy necessitates a substantial number of cases for proficiency.