• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer

Log in
  • Search
    • Search All SAGES Content
    • Search SAGES Guidelines
    • Search the Video Library
    • Search the Image Library
    • Search the Abstracts Archive
www.sages.org

SAGES

Reimagining surgical care for a healthier world

  • Home
    • Search
    • SAGES Home
    • SAGES Foundation Home
  • About
    • Awards
    • Who Is SAGES?
    • Leadership
    • Our Mission
    • Advocacy
    • Committees
      • SAGES Board of Governors
      • Officers and Representatives of the Society
      • Committee Chairs and Co-Chairs
      • Committee Rosters
      • SAGES Past Presidents
  • Meetings
    • SAGES NBT Innovation Weekend
    • SAGES Annual Meeting
      • 2026 Scientific Session Call for Abstracts
      • 2026 Emerging Technology Call for Abstracts
    • CME Claim Form
    • SAGES Past, Present, Future, and Related Meeting Information
    • SAGES Related Meetings & Events Calendar
  • Join SAGES!
    • Membership Application
    • Membership Benefits
    • Membership Types
      • Requirements and Applications for Active Membership in SAGES
      • Requirements and Applications for Affiliate Membership in SAGES
      • Requirements and Applications for Associate Active Membership in SAGES
      • Requirements and Applications for Candidate Membership in SAGES
      • Requirements and Applications for International Membership in SAGES
      • Requirements for Medical Student Membership
    • Member Spotlight
    • Give the Gift of SAGES Membership
  • Patients
    • Join the SAGES Patient Partner Network (PPN)
    • Patient Information Brochures
    • Healthy Sooner – Patient Information for Minimally Invasive Surgery
    • Choosing Wisely – An Initiative of the ABIM Foundation
    • All in the Recovery: Colorectal Cancer Alliance
    • Find A SAGES Surgeon
  • Publications
    • Sustainability in Surgical Practice
    • SAGES Stories Podcast
    • SAGES Clinical / Practice / Training Guidelines, Statements, and Standards of Practice
    • Patient Information Brochures
    • Patient Information From SAGES
    • TAVAC – Technology and Value Assessments
    • Surgical Endoscopy and Other Journal Information
    • SAGES Manuals
    • MesSAGES – The SAGES Newsletter
    • COVID-19 Archive
    • Troubleshooting Guides
  • Education
    • Wellness Resources – You Are Not Alone
    • Avoid Opiates After Surgery
    • SAGES Subscription Catalog
    • SAGES TV: Home of SAGES Surgical Videos
    • The SAGES Safe Cholecystectomy Program
    • Masters Program
    • Resident and Fellow Opportunities
      • SAGES Free Resident Webinar Series
      • Fluorescence-Guided Surgery Course for Fellows
      • Fellows’ Career Development Course
      • SAGES Robotics Residents and Fellows Courses
      • MIS Fellows Course
    • SAGES S.M.A.R.T. Enhanced Recovery Program
    • SAGES @ Cine-Med Products
      • SAGES Top 21 Minimally Invasive Procedures Every Practicing Surgeon Should Know
      • SAGES Pearls Step-by-Step
      • SAGES Flexible Endoscopy 101
    • SAGES OR SAFETY Video Activity
  • Opportunities
    • Fellowship Recognition Opportunities
    • SAGES Advanced Flexible Endoscopy Area of Concentrated Training (ACT) SEAL
    • Multi-Society Foregut Fellowship Certification
    • Research Opportunities
    • FLS
    • FES
    • FUSE
    • Jobs Board
    • SAGES Go Global: Global Affairs and Humanitarian Efforts
  • OWLS/FLS
You are here: Home / Abstracts / Can the Endoscopy Training System (ETS) be used as a Screening Tool to Predict who will pass the Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery (FES) Examination?

Can the Endoscopy Training System (ETS) be used as a Screening Tool to Predict who will pass the Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery (FES) Examination?

Aimee K Gardner1, Aman B Ali2, Matthew Ritter3, Michael B Ujiki4, Brian J Dunkin2. 1University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 2Houston Methodist Hospitl, 3Uniform Services University, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, 4Northshore University Health System

Introduction: There is an increasing amount of work suggesting that existing flexible endoscopy training curricula in surgical residency may be insufficient to ensure uniform pass rates on the Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery (FES) examination. The goal of our study is to examine the extent to which task performance on a newly developed Endoscopy Training System (ETS) would predict FES exam scores.

Methods: Fellows attending the 2016 SAGES Flexible Endoscopy Course were invited to complete the FES skills examination, one repetition of three tasks on the ETS (ETS1, scope manipulation; ETS2, targeting; and ETS3, retroflexion), and a questionnaire collecting information on demographics and endoscopic experience. Participants provided an anonymous unique identification number to ensure de-identified data aggregation. Basic descriptives, correlations, and regression analyses were conducted with SPSS version 23.0.

Results: Fifty-eight fellows (age 33.89 ± 3.21; 69% men) completed the ETS stations. The frequency of achieving proficiency levels on the simulation tasks during the first repetition was 23.5% (ETS1), 26.7% (ETS2), and 40% (ETS3). Twenty-eight fellows also took the FES skills examination with an overall pass rate of 60%. ETS1 performance significantly correlated with FES scope manipulation performance (r=.55, p < 0.001), and those who met proficiency on ETS1 were more likely to pass the FES exam compared to those who did not meet proficiency (100% vs. 56.3%, p < 0.05). Performance on ETS2 correlated with ETS1 (r=0.36, p < 0.05), but neither ETS2 nor ETS3 significantly correlated with their respective FES tasks. When all variables were included in a regression equation with upper and lower endoscopic case experience, ETS1 remained a significant predictor of overall FES exam scores (b= 6.17, t(5, 20)=4.051, p < 0.05), above and beyond clinical endoscopic experience.

Conclusions: These data indicate that there is value in using the scope manipulation task on the ETS to predict performance on the FES examination. In this setting, however, we did not find similar results for the tool targeting and retroflexion tasks. Future work should continue to explore how and when these tools can be used to complement efforts for ensuring uniform competency in flexible gastrointestinal endoscopy.


Presented at the SAGES 2017 Annual Meeting in Houston, TX.

Abstract ID: 80924

Program Number: P289

Presentation Session: Poster (Non CME)

Presentation Type: Poster

105

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon

Related



Hours & Info

11300 West Olympic Blvd, Suite 600
Los Angeles, CA 90064

1-310-437-0544

[email protected]

Monday – Friday
8am to 5pm Pacific Time

Find Us Around the Web!

  • Bluesky
  • X
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2025 · SAGES · All Rights Reserved

Important Links

Healthy Sooner: Patient Information

SAGES Guidelines, Statements, & Standards of Practice

SAGES Manuals