Endoscopic complications are inevitable, and the welfare of patients who are affected is our first priority. However, the psychological impact on trainees and independent practitioners is poorly understood. If this impact is not recognised and if support is not offered, there is a risk that colleagues will carry those injuries or even abandon certain procedures. This JAG-endorsed survey, carried out by Dr Sreelakshmi Kotha and Dr Phillip Berry, explores the impact of complications on endoscopists, the specific fears and anxieties that may arise, and the type of support that was offered. We hope that this data will contribute to improved education and support for endoscopists in the UK.

Exploring the impact of endoscopic complications on practitioners survey

Please join us in thanking our departing JAG Training Lead, Miss Sarah Mills, who will be handing over her role to Dr Paul Dunckley this month.

Sarah took up her role as Training Lead in 2022, navigating the significant challenges for endoscopy training presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, she has collaborated with Endoscopy Academies and JAG Regional Training Centres to develop innovative approaches to training, such as immersion training, as well as incorporating new JAG training and certification pathways into JETS and developing a dashboard for Academy leads to target training opportunities for local trainees.

A particular highlight of Sarah’s tenure was chairing the JAG strategy day on ‘The Future of Endoscopy Training’, held at the RCP in 2023. She recalls the ‘highly spirited and passionate debate’ amongst stakeholders, and believes the day provided JAG with ‘a blueprint that I have no doubt that my successor, Dr Paul Dunkley, will implement successfully during his tenure.’ She is confident that ‘the future of endoscopy training will be safe in his capable hands!’

Please also join us in welcoming Paul, who has extensive experience in leading endoscopy training, having delivered over 250 training courses since qualifying as a consultant gastroenterologist. Paul has sat on the JAG Training Committee since 2008, where, as a former Clinical Lead for JETS, he oversaw the development and UK-wide rollout of the platform, as well as JAG’s transition to digital certification pathways in 2011. In addition to publishing over 30 peer-reviewed papers on endoscopy training, Paul is the Director of both the Gloucestershire Bowel Cancer Screening Programme and the South West Endoscopy Training Academy, where he has sought to enhance training for his region’s wider endoscopy workforce.

Looking to the future, Paul notes ‘the significant challenges facing endoscopy training, with stretched endoscopy services, the ongoing impact of the pandemic, workforce gaps and the reduced length of training programmes.’ Nevertheless, he believes that ‘it is a very exciting time – with the advent of the regional endoscopy training academies, the release of JETS Workforce, and the increasing focus on training administrative and clerical staff in endoscopy. I look forward to working with JAG’s stakeholders to continue developing and quality-assuring endoscopy training in the UK.’

Differences from our other pathways:

Independence in OGD and colonoscopy – this is the first of our pathways on JETS that requires independence in another pathway as one of its key performance indicators (KPI). Independence in OGD and colonoscopy is required in DAE certification. This can be evidenced by certification on JETS, or levels set by a training lead in their ‘organisation admin’ page.

Summative DOPS – as the case volume of DAE is much smaller than our other pathways, the DAE assessors agreed that the 4-week window in which our other pathways require summative DOPS to be achieved is not suitable for DAE. The window for DAE was therefore agreed to be 8 weeks to take into account access to lists/procedures.

eLearning for health (ELFH) – completion of e-learning modules for capsule endoscopy is required for DAE. This must be evidenced on your certification page by uploading the certificate from the ELFH website. You can do this upload directly from the certification page.

This module is under review for the future capsule pathway. Candidates must evidence having completed the current version of the module on the e-learning for health website.

Procedures/DOPS prior pathway launch – as the DAE procedure entry form and formative DOPS were added to JETS prior to the launch of the DAE pathway, we would like to reassure candidates that any data input in the interim between the forms being added and pathway launch will automatically count towards your KPIs at launch.

You can find out more information about this pathway in the JETS certification pathway document. 

Please circulate with anyone in your network that may be interested in becoming certified.

Two new pathways launched in JETS

On 2 October 2023 we launched two new certification pathways in Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS). An evidence-based certification pathway was commissioned by JAG to support and quality assure EUS training. This pathway will help to improve the quality of training and safety standards for EUS in the UK. ERCP is a complex and technically demanding procedure. Over the last three decades, ERCP has become almost exclusively therapeutic. The ERCP pathway has been created with the intention of quality assuring training and to improve ERCP standards of care in the UK.

Here’s what you need to know if you will be training in either or both pathways:

Existing procedures

Procedures added to JETS, either through NED or manually, will be counted toward the lifetime procedure number KPI for both pathways.

New procedures

After the launch of these pathways on JETS, only procedures that have the mandatory JETS fields filled in will count towards any KPI, including lifetime procedure count. This is relevant for NEDi2 procedures that automatically feed through to JETS. While these will appear for users at a NEDi2 site, these will not count towards certification until the mandated fields are completed on JETS.

Procedures uploaded to NED prior to the launch of these pathways will count towards some KPIs, as detailed below:

ERCP

EUS

You can find out more information about both pathways in the JETS certification pathway document available on our website.