Improving standards for colonoscopy for inflammatory bowel disease by implementing key performance measures – a quality improvement initiative

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Aims There is emerging attention for standardisation for colonoscopy quality measures in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). ESGE has recently published key performance measures for colonoscopy in IBD. Our study aims to assess our current standards against these key performance measures and to identify areas for improvement. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed in established IBD patients between June-August 2022. Standards included 1) pre-procedure metrics (indication, consent, safety checklist) and 2) bowel preparation score, photo-documentation, disease activity scores, adequate biopsies, high-definition endoscopy use and chromoendoscopy. We set minimum standards per ESGE and target standards with consensus between ESGE, ECCO and SCENIC guidelines. Results 125 procedures were analysed; 67 with Crohn’s disease and 58 with ulcerative colitis. All procedures had documented indication, intubation of the cecum/ileum and used high-definition endoscopy. 92.8% of procedures documented bowel preparation scores. There was adequate photo-documentation in 91.2% and adequate biopsies in 87.2%. Disease activity score was only recorded in 63.2%. Of 63 procedures performed for dysplasia surveillance, chromoendoscopy was only performed in 57% and 7 (11.1%) patients had dysplasia ([ Table 1 ]). Table 1 Performance measures, targets, and baseline practice. Conclusions Quality metrics are important in colonoscopy for IBD patients. Endoscopists routinely performing colonoscopy for indications other than IBD may not be well aware of these. Our baseline data suggests educational interventions are required to improve certain metrics followed by re-assessment. We anticipate this will also help develop the interventions required to sustain quality improvements in this area [ 1 ]. Publication History Article published online: 14 April 2023 © 2023. European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. All rights reserved. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany