Monthly feedback linked to improved colonoscopy quality

(HealthDay)—Monthly feedback significantly improves colonoscopy quality measures, but quarterly feedback does not, according to a study published online Sept. 11 in Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Suryakanth R. Gurudu, M.D., from the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, and colleagues gave quarterly or monthly feedback on colonoscopy quality measures as part of a quality improvement program. All 3,420 screening colonoscopies performed between October 2010 and December 2012 were reviewed.

The researchers found that 555 patients underwent screening colonoscopies during pre-intervention, 1,209 patients during quarterly feedback, 599 during monthly feedback, and 1,057 during the post-intervention phase by 16 gastroenterologists. The overall adenoma detection rate for the group improved from 30.5 percent to 37.7 percent. All quality indicators measured significantly improved during the monthly feedback and post-intervention periods, but not in the quarterly feedback period, compared with the pre-intervention period.

“The impact of the intervention was most prominent in the ‘Low Detectors’ group. Results were durable up to 6 months following the intervention,” write the authors.

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