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Professionals
17 August 2021

Colorectal surgery trainees lag behind their gastroenterology counterparts in accruing endoscopy experience. This affects the ability of colorectal surgery trainees to achieve certification prior to completion of training. An urgent debate is required to decide what endoscopy training is required of a colorectal surgeon and how a robust training system can be put in place to ensure this is achieved.

Colonoscopy certification in the UK is taken in two parts - provisional and full - mandating lifetime procedure counts of 200 or 300, respectively. The aim of this study was to determine the number of procedures performed by colorectal trainees by the end of training compared with their gastroenterology peers and to determine the factors associated with achieving the 300-procedure target for full certification. For trainees completing training in 2017, 19% of colorectal surgery trainees compared with 88% of gastroenterology trainees were able to reach the threshold of 300 procedures for full certification. Colorectal surgery trainees lag behind their gastroenterology counterparts in accruing endoscopy experience. This affects the ability of colorectal surgery trainees to achieve certification prior to completion of training. An urgent debate is required to decide what endoscopy training is required of a colorectal surgeon and how a robust training system can be put in place to ensure this is achieved.

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