I was scoping with my attending today who is super old school. I was struggling within the twisties of the female sigmoid and he started with a story about how some fellows have natural talent and others need to work hard to be good at endoscopy. He went on to say that that he himself had had no talent but he worked hard. Feel a little deflated - I thought I was doing very well for myself - i've only done 40 or so colons so far and received very little instruction and a lot of sarcasm during it. Any words of wisdom?
Natural talent for endoscopy?
- Thread starter dannyd
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2014
- Messages
- 188
- Reaction score
- 97
Solid advice from virilep.
There's some degree of "you have it or you don't" with anything...from playing an instrument to being an endoscopist. The only person who will really make that determination, however, is you. If you have it in you to keep doing colons until you can get to the TI consistently, well then you will be a very good endoscopist
Nobody started out knowing how to perform these procedures...they all learned, just as you will. I'll add to virilep's advice: Be critical of yourself when you scope. I'm in my 9th month of fellowship...sure, I can spank the colon, slam the scope in and get to the cecum (which I think is the wrong way to do it), or I can be a little bit more careful, reduce around every turn (even if I fall back, so what, that means I have to keep practicing my reductions till I don't fall back), suction as I reduce, etc etc...and finish the procedure the RIGHT way, with a short scope, minimal looping, safe patient, and a half-decent look at the colon already.
Yes, it will take longer, and yes, other people will brag "I got to the cecum in August, blah blah blah." Who cares? The only person you need to be better than is yourself from yesterday. Don't be discouraged! Keep doing colons! Keep being critical of yourself in a constructive way! Listen to your attendings and watch their hands. It will all come together
There's some degree of "you have it or you don't" with anything...from playing an instrument to being an endoscopist. The only person who will really make that determination, however, is you. If you have it in you to keep doing colons until you can get to the TI consistently, well then you will be a very good endoscopist
Nobody started out knowing how to perform these procedures...they all learned, just as you will. I'll add to virilep's advice: Be critical of yourself when you scope. I'm in my 9th month of fellowship...sure, I can spank the colon, slam the scope in and get to the cecum (which I think is the wrong way to do it), or I can be a little bit more careful, reduce around every turn (even if I fall back, so what, that means I have to keep practicing my reductions till I don't fall back), suction as I reduce, etc etc...and finish the procedure the RIGHT way, with a short scope, minimal looping, safe patient, and a half-decent look at the colon already.
Yes, it will take longer, and yes, other people will brag "I got to the cecum in August, blah blah blah." Who cares? The only person you need to be better than is yourself from yesterday. Don't be discouraged! Keep doing colons! Keep being critical of yourself in a constructive way! Listen to your attendings and watch their hands. It will all come together
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2014
- Messages
- 514
- Reaction score
- 253
I am done with 2 blocks in my fellowship and still figuring my way in scoping. I have done some 50 colonoscopies so far and still dont feel very comfortable. one of the major problems i have is that I am losing shape as i am scoping. I am crouching, tilting, peeking when all i need to do is stand still and let my hands and fingers play that. I am so spoilt playing all these GT, video games that I am doing all these positions subconsciously and getting flak for the same. We do most scopes with moderate sedation so I am learning to be wary of patient discomfort especially when loops are formed in sigmoid. hoping to keep fine tuning my skills, learning to keep my posture nice and simple. I think I ll have some sort of comfort when I touch 200 scopes.
EGD have been hit or miss with esophageal intubation. Once that happens, things have been very smooth - biopsies, measurements, duodenal sweep maneuver.
EGD have been hit or miss with esophageal intubation. Once that happens, things have been very smooth - biopsies, measurements, duodenal sweep maneuver.
