Why Colonoscopy Recertification Is Important

If you’re not yet aware, the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards have made it necessary that from 2019, all hospitals and day services that are set up to conduct colonoscopies in Australia are to be accredited to the Colonoscopy Clinical Care Standard to ensure that everyone performing the procedure is adequately accredited to do so. To ensure this, the Clinical Care Standard requires facilities to provide evidence that all of the colonoscopists they have working for them have evidence of independent certification that they meet the necessary performance indicators in the standard. In this article, we demonstrate why this is such an important move.

What the Recertification is all about

If you’ve been considering a revalidation of your colonoscopy license, there’s never been a better time. To make this process all the easier, the GESA Colonoscopy Recertification Program provides a formal way for physicians to obtain a nationally recognised certification related to their colonoscopy expertise. This program is demonstrates relevant experience through being based around an online logbook in which practitioners record their procedures, with the logbook requiring updating for review once every three years. In essence, Recertification is designed to support practitioners in ensuring that they maintain their expertise in relation to colonoscopies, maintaining skill development through the availability of subsidised training opportunities and by increasing safety standards and the overall quality of care being offered to patients. As the logbook is required to be updated once every three years, the program thus provides for triennial recertification. This is also important to ensure that practitioners continue to implement the Colonoscopy Clinical Care Standard to allow for the increased safety and the quality of care being delivered to patients across Australia. It is therefore the responsibility of hospitals and day facilities to ensure that their practitioners are appropriately recertified to meet the changing requirements of the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards.

The importance of recertification

There are quite a few reasons why the program is so important – firstly, it has been developed over a number of years in order to bring Australia into line with important international trends. It also ensures that medical professionals are brought into line with ever-increasing consumer expectations, as the satisfaction of patients is of the utmost importance when related to their health. Due to the program being strictly related to the Australian medical landscape, participation in the program is limited to colonoscopists practising in Australia who already have CCRTGE recognition of training in adult or paediatric colonoscopy. It is therefore important to encourage participation due to the ongoing need to ensure your own skills are up to date, as well as the opportunity to positively contribute to the general gastroenterological community the betterment of patients

Staying on top of training

With bowel cancer being diagnosed in 1 out of 11 Australians by the age of 85, it’s important now more than ever to ensure that good practice standards are upheld and reinforced. With this in mind, being recertified can ensure that patients are able to reap the rewards of the highest medical care quality possible to make their experiences as pain-free and approachable as possible. If you haven’t started your recertification yet, now is the time – not just for yourself, but for Australia as a whole.