Endoscopy Unit Demonstrates Best Practices

The Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center (MEDVAMC) is located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston. The endoscopy department is staffed by six registered nurses (RNs), one health technician, and eight gastroenterologists. “This hospital serves patients from the Houston area and from surrounding areas, including parts of Louisiana and most of east Texas,” says staff nurse Sandra Bordelon, RN, BSN. Many patients travel 100 miles or more for endoscopic procedures. The MEDVAMC has three outlying primary care clinics up to 100 miles away from Houston.

At these clinics, a nurse and endoscopist inserviced staff and assisted with development of endoscopic pre-screening, to reduce cost and travel for the patients. “Travel to Houston is only required for the actual procedure,” Bordelon explains.

This performance improvement project reduced the waiting time for colonoscopy from four months to less than one month, and the hospital awarded the team with a $10,000 Outstanding Performance Improvement Activity Award in 2004.

Bordelon calls the team “poetry in motion,” saying that one member picks up where the other leaves off. Patient education is crucial, so nurses teach a pre-screening class on dietary restrictions and self-administration of colonoscopy preps.

“A quote by Vincent Lombardi describes their purpose,” says Bordelon. “‘Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.’”

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