Surgical endoscopy training: benefit to army-wide medicine.

To assess the benefit of surgeons being trained in endoscopic procedures, the gastrointestinal endoscopic experience of all surgical residents graduating from a single medical center in the 1984-87 period was evaluated. For the 1989 1-year period, the surgeons' aggregate total of gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures was 1,040: 470 EGDs and 570 colonoscopies. During a 3-year (1987-89) period, the total was 2,290 procedures: 1,080 EGDs and 1,210 colonoscopies. While the cost savings for over 1,000 endoscopic procedures a year is obvious, it is the impact of the accessibility of these procedures on quality patient care that is of the greatest benefit. In this era of financial constraints and personnel cutbacks, the incorporation of gastrointestinal endoscopy into surgical training must be insured and surgeons must be encouraged to pursue their endoscopic skills throughout their surgical careers.