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Mayo Clinic officials develop new guidelines for colonoscopy training

Category: Colon

Your next colon cancer test may be a little more comfortable thanks to officials from the Mayo Clinic.

The group recently developed a new set of criteria by which gastroenterology students and fellows will be judged before they are allowed to perform colonoscopies on live patients. The guidelines set out a list of minimum competency requirements that judge a trainee's cognitive and motor skills.

A colonoscopy can be an extremely uncomfortable procedure, particularly if the physician is less practiced. This can have a negative impact on testing rates. However, improving the quality of procedure may help more individuals seek testing.

"What is needed is the development of an ongoing, formalized assessment method that assesses a broad range of both motor and cognitive skills in a standardized and measurable way," said Robert Sedlack, who wrote the guidelines. "The benefits of such a tool would allow continuous monitoring of a trainee's ongoing progress and the establishment of normal learning curves for trainees."

If the guidelines are adopted by more healthcare providers, it could have a serious positive impact on colon cancer testing.