title: Gastronet survey on the use of one- or two-person technique for colonoscopy insertion.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Usually, colonoscopy insertion is performed by the colonoscopist (one-person technique). Quite common in the early days of endoscopy, the assisting nurse is now only rarely doing the insertion (two-person technique). Using the Norwegian national endoscopy quality assurance (QA) programme, Gastronet, we wanted to explore the extent of two-person technique practice and look into possible differences in performance and QA output measures.
  
  
  METHODS
  100 colonoscopists in 18 colonoscopy centres having reported their colonoscopies to Gastronet between January and December 2009 were asked if they practiced one- or two-person technique during insertion of the colonoscope. They were categorized accordingly for comparative analyses of QA indicators.
  
  
  RESULTS
  75 endoscopists responded to the survey (representing 9368 colonoscopies) - 62 of them (83%) applied one-person technique and 13 (17%) two-person technique. Patients age and sex distributions and indications for colonoscopy were also similar in the two groups. Caecal intubation was 96% in the two-person group compared to 92% in the one-person group (p < 0.001). Pain reports were similar in the groups, but time to the caecum was shorter and the use of sedation less in the two-person group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Two-person technique for colonoscope insertion was practiced by a considerable minority of endoscopists (17%). QA indicators were either similar to or better than one-person technique. This suggests that there may be some beneficial elements to this technique worth exploring and try to import into the much preferred one-person insertion technique.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Medicine, Telemark Hospital, 3710 Skien, Norway.
authors.forename: Geir
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hoff
authors.forename: Moritz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Volker
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bretthauer
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Aabakken
authors.forename: Ole
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Høie
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Delange
authors.forename: Ingrid
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Berset
authors.forename: Øystein
authors.initials: Ø
authors.lastname: Kjellevold
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Glomsaker
authors.forename: Gert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huppertz-Hauss
authors.forename: Ove
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sandvei
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003113:Colonoscopy / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis