Sleep deprivation leads to reduction in polyp detection among endoscopy trainees

摘要

In the context of escalating demand, endoscopist workload is increasing. Growing evidence suggests that endoscopist fatigue impairs performance.Although sleep deprivation has been studied in surgical training, its effects on endoscopy have not been shown. We wish to highlight recent audit findings illustrating the impact of sleep deprivation on colonoscopy quality among trainees in our institution. Colonoscopy outcomes of 7 senior gastroenterology fellows in a tertiary-care, hospital-based endoscopy unit were reviewed over 6 months (April-September 2011); each trainee had performed at least 500 colonoscopies independently. In this institution, gastroenterology fellows provide ros-tered, on-call inpatient care, including supervising emergency department admissions along with regular endoscopy, creating a situation whereby fellows, with typically less than 3 hours' sleep, resume routine endoscopy responsibilities the next day without interruption, performing a half-day list (8-10 procedures, both EGDs and colonoscopies).