Nurses advancing endoscopes

Specialties Gastroenterology

Published

I am interested to find how how many places advance the endoscopes for the Dr.'s, both EGD and Colon.

I work with surgeons and GI doc. We have 1 surgeon that can not

manipulate the scope and advance the scope at the same time.

This Dr. has recently returned to work after an absence and since we have not had to advance scope since he has been gone we are reluctant to do so now.

As one of our GI doc's said "who ever is driving the scope is doing the exam" and we are not sure we want to be "drivingtthe scope.

So ,is it common practice for nurses to drive the scope for docs?

Thanks,

LMBV

Thank you very much for the explanation, PDC. I really appreciate it. I find it fascinating to watch my scopes on the monitor and am terribly disappointed that all of a sudden our hospital has adopted a policy of no more video taping birthings or the monitor during a colonoscopy. Now my gastro has decided no more scopes w/o sedation and I'm terribly disappointed by this.

I knew the purpose of the haustra but didn't know their correct name. I didn't realize that the air could or would "hide" the haukstra. I figured when they disappeared it was due to the colon stretching out lengthwise due to the scope advancing. Again, thank you for sharing.

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We used to advance scopes in one of our doc during colonoscopy. He will tell us when to push, and whe also anticipate when, if the lumen is visible. He said it's the trend and wanted to start it in our department. Thankfully, no perforation had happened till i left the department.

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Specializes in Dermatology, GI, and PACU.

At our facility our nurses do not advance the scope. Occasionally our GI technicians will advance or hold the scope during colonscopies.

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I am a GI nurse at a hospital and have been for seven years. We have a couple of surgeons and a GI doc that do our scopes. We push the scopes for our surgeons but not for the GI doc. I can see why someone would be hesitant to start this practice and if the docs dont want you to push the scope, I wouldn't volunteer. That said, I have no reservations pushing the scopes for our docs. We did research on this to make sure or facility was in line within the nurses scope of practice. Currently in Oklahoma we could not find anything in the state nurse practice acts that would contraindicate this practice. The SGNA or Society of Gastroenterolgy Nurses Assoc., there is position statement on their website stating that with proper training and experience, pushing the scope is an accepted practice. I agree with a previous post that I feel the procedures go more quickly and smoothly because the docs have both hands on the controls of the scope. To me, it is no different than the doctors surgical assistants in the OR that assist parts of the surgeries with the doctors direct supervision.:paw:

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Specializes in CNA 1 and endoscopy.
I am interested to find how how many places advance the endoscopes for the Dr.'s, both EGD and Colon.

I work with surgeons and GI doc. We have 1 surgeon that can not

manipulate the scope and advance the scope at the same time.

This Dr. has recently returned to work after an absence and since we have not had to advance scope since he has been gone we are reluctant to do so now.

As one of our GI doc's said "who ever is driving the scope is doing the exam" and we are not sure we want to be "drivingtthe scope.

So ,is it common practice for nurses to drive the scope for docs?

Thanks,

LMBV

I work at a hospital endo dept and the techs are the ones advancing the scopes while dr manipulates the scope. the tech also does the assisting with biopsies,etc...

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All of ours nurses and techs are taught to pass the scope.

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Thanks--I've just learned one more question to ask before my next colonoscopy--do nurses or techs "push" the scope? Frankly, I don't see how that can be a good idea. Only the person operating the controls can really know how far, how fast, how much to turn, etc., and another pair of hands just cannot react as quickly. I would definitely not feel comfortable in that situation. Kind of like one person steering the car, and another running the accelerator. Gives me the shivers. There are enough questionable aspects to this procedure, let's not add yet one more.

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any one please give some inforamation about MARS machine. How it work

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any one please give some inforamation about MARS machine. How it work

Are you talking about:Molecular Adsorbents Recirculation System (MARS)?

Not sure what this has to do with nurses advancing endoscopes.

David Carpenter, PA-C

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