National screening guidelines for colon cancer include a number of options. Colonoscopy is the most commonly used screening tool to detect colorectal cancer. To meet this important public health challenge, communities must have adequate numbers of physicians capable of performing colonoscopy.
Hospital governing boards, outpatient facilities, or other clinical settings with the input of their medical staffs, or other credentialing committees, must determine who should be granted colonoscopy privileges at their institutions. The basis for such decisions is a review of the training, experience and demonstrated current competence of the physician applying for the privilege. Where family physicians meet the institution’s privileging criteria for colonoscopy, they should be granted this privilege. (2003) (October 2023 COD)