Journal Article

P118 Assessing the impact of the advent of regional academies and immersion training on endoscopist training in the UK

Bhakta, Aaron, Pohl, Keith, Butler, Jessica, Rutter, Matt, Feeney, Mark, Dunckley, Paul

2025

Overview

IntroductionImmersion training programmes (intensive blocks of training), were first offered by select training academies in 2022. In 2022, colonoscopy certification changed from two stages: 200 (provisional) and 300 (full) procedures, to a single stage: 280 procedures. We evaluate the impact of this on training time.MethodsThe National Endoscopy Database was interrogated. Excluding users who submitted baseline procedures, the median time from first procedure to certification, and training lists per week, procedure and role in 2021 and 2024 were calculated. Year of training at certification was sought.ResultsMedian times to certification are seen in table 1. The overall time to OGD certification has fallen (p=0.012). By role, only clinical endoscopists (p=0.015) and gastroenterology trainees (p=0.027) have seen a reduction in OGD training time.Overall time to full colonoscopy certification has significantly shortened (p=<0.001). By role, both gastroenterology and clinical endoscopist trainees have seen a shortened colonoscopy training time (p<0.001), however surgical trainees have not seen a significant reduction, although training time has trended downwards (p=0.108). All roles have seen a significant increase in the number of training lists provided per week.Abstract P118 Table 1Median time to certification by role Median time to certification (IQR) 2021 2024 OGD Colon (provisional) 200 procedures Colon (full) 300 procedures OGD Colon (full) 280 procedures Overall 738 (546-1125) 1318 (888-2131) 1905 (1447-2818) 656 (382-1157) 1314 (806-2312) Clinical endoscopists 547 (291-894) 951 (714-1570) 1675 (957-2602) 335 (261-520) 534 (404-919) Gastroenterology trainees 684 (554-955) 1219 (927-1838) 1865 (1507-2498) 621 (435-914) 1383 (1064-2023) Surgical trainees 1591 (878-2623) 2258 (1464-2947) 3078 (1924-3580) 1642 (920-2403) 2371 (1244-3293) Gastroenterology trainees are certified in a lower year of training in 2024 for both OGD (median year 1 vs. 3 in 2021, p=<0.001) and colonoscopy (4 vs. 5 in 2021, p=<0.001). This is not seen in surgical trainees: OGD - year 5 in 2021 vs. 4 in 2024, p=0.067; colonoscopy - year 6 in both periods, p=0.351.ConclusionsBoth clinical endoscopists and gastroenterology trainees are certifying in OGD in a shorter period of time and earlier year of training. This is allowing gastroenterology trainees to enter colonoscopy training earlier. Both clinical endoscopists and gastroenterology trainees have experienced shortened colonoscopy training times, despite the number of required procedures only reducing by 20. Surgical trainees are not achieving full certification any faster.Our findings are evidence of early benefit from the advent of training academies and immersion training, for which capacity continues to expand. Surgical training requires significant further investment, particularly in colonoscopy where trainees are still only gaining certification in their last year of training.

• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subject: Certification / Colon / Colonoscopy / Endoscopy / Gastroenterology / Immersion