Attitudes of Gastroenterologists Regarding Preoperative Anxiety Prior to Colonoscopy: A Cross-Sectional Study

Colonoscopy is often considered by patients to be an anxiety-provoking procedure. Studies have investigated different approaches to help alleviate anxiety prior to colonoscopies. However, there have been no investigations of gastroenterologists and their attitudes towards pre-procedural anxiety of patients. This study presents the largest survey assessing these attitudes.

The aim of our study is to determine attitudes and practices of gastroenterologists towards pre-procedural anxiety before colonoscopies.

An anonymous questionnaire was sent online to gastroenterologists of the American College of Gastroenterology to assess views regarding pre-procedural anxiety.

Of the 280 complete responses, most respondents were male (n = 205, 73.21%), in practice between 0 and 9 years (n = 133, 47.50%), at the attending/faculty level (n = 69.53%, 194), and practiced in the academic setting (n = 124, 44.28%). Most respondents did not ask their patients about pre-operative anxiety prior to colonoscopy (n = 149, 53.79%), although many responded that they would use a pre-procedural anxiety rating scale if one was available (n = 124, 44.73%). Techniques gastroenterologists implemented to reduce anxiety about colonoscopies in their patients included pre-operative education about the procedure (n = 223, 82.90%), permitting family members to be present (n = 90, 33.46%), and playing music (n = 77, 28.62%). On a weighted scale, most responded that the endoscopist has the most responsibility for the patient's anxiety, followed by anesthesiologists/CRNAs.

The majority of gastroenterologists did not regularly measure pre-operative anxiety prior to colonoscopy and almost half would be open to the use a tool to help assess their patient's anxiety. Future directions may include the development of a specific tool for anxiety measurement specific to colonoscopy.