Nurse Practitioners as Endoscopists

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Abstract
In his article “Screening for Colorectal Cancer by Nurse Endoscopists,” Dr. Maule (Jan. 20 issue)1 concludes that “nurses can carry out screening . . . sigmoidoscopy as accurately and safely as experienced gastroenterologists,” since “there were no significant differences between the nurses and the physicians in the proportion of examinations that were positive for adenomas or cancer.” However, the most pertinent figures -- namely, the number and types of lesions identified by nurses as compared with those identified by physicians -- are not presented separately, making it difficult to judge whether such a conclusion is justified.