The Canadian Association of Gastroenterology Endoscopy Quality Initiative: leading the wave.

Pentax Canada Inc P&G GI Health Schering-Plough Canada Inc UCB Pharma Inc The Canadian Association of Gastroenterology’s (CAG) Endoscopy Quality Initiative (EQI) was developed in 2007 to promote quality assurance and quality improvement, and to facilitate these activities in becoming standard of care for endoscopy services in Canada. To achieve these goals, the Steering Committee of the EQI has established a quality assurance program based on two essential tools: the Global Rating Scale (GRS) and the EQI practice audit. The GRS is a scale designed for periodic, repeated use within the endoscopy unit to provide an assessment of the quality of endoscopy services and to guide quality improvement efforts. Its key construct of quality is that of a patient-centred service. Use of the GRS is supported by a dedicated Internet site for data entry, tracking of progress, action planning and access to a large electronic library of resources and case studies. Since its creation in 2004 by Dr Roland Valori and colleagues, the GRS has enjoyed rapid uptake and success in the United Kingdom (UK); this was paralleled by dramatic wait time reductions within the National Health Service. EQI participants are expected to complete the GRS biannually and to perform activities that will improve their GRS rating over time. To support participation in Canada, the CAG, with the help of the UK’s GRS leadership, has developed the Canadian GRS Web site. In addition, in May 2008, CAG sponsored a series of workshops at several Canadian centres led by Debbie Johnston, a member of the UK’s National Endoscopy Committee and co-author of the GRS. A pilot practice audit on colonoscopy was completed in 2007, with findings reported at the Canadian Digestive Diseases Week (CDDW) 2008 meeting (1). This pilot audit formed the basis for the current EQI colonoscopy practice audit, the preliminary results from which were presented at CDDW 2009 (Figure 1) (2-4). As of May 2009, more than 60 endoscopists from 21 sites across the country have provided data on 1260 colonoscopies. cag news page