Health Care Providers’ Acceptance of Unsedated Colonoscopy Before and After a State-of-the-art Lecture on the Feasibility of the Option

BACKGROUND/AIM: The impact of education on acceptance of unsedated colonoscopy by health care providers is unknown. To test the hypothesis that knowledge imparted by a lecture on unsedated colonoscopy is associated with its enhanced acceptance. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: At the State-of-the-Art Lecture on “Unsedated colonoscopy: Is it feasible?” presented at the 8(th) Pan-Arab Conference on Gastroenterology, February, 2011, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a questionnaire survey of the audience was undertaken. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An expectation questionnaire was administered before and after the lecture. Attendees responded anonymously. Statistical analysis used: The responses of a convenient sample of 49 attendees who provided completed responses to the questionnaire both before and after the lecture were analyzed. Data are expressed as frequency counts and means±SEM. Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), ANOVA with contrasts and Chi-square analysis (Statview II Program for Macintosh computers) were used to assess the data. A P value of <0.05 is considered significant. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The mean±SEM credibility score (maximum possible score=50) was 25.8 ± 1.8 before and 33.3 ± 2.1 after the lecture, with a significant improvement in mean score of 7.5 ± 1.3 (P=0.001, paired t test). Nineteen (39%) respondents were not willing to consider unsedated colonoscopy for themselves before the lecture. This number decreased to 13 (27%) after the lecture. Before the lecture only 4 (8%) respondents were willing to consider unsedated colonoscopy for themselves. After the lecture this number increased to 8 (16%). The data suggest education of healthcare professionals regarding the feasibility of unsedated colonoscopy appears to enhance its acceptance as a credible patient care option at a Pan-Arab Gastroenterology Conference.