Search

The purpose of this statement is to provide guidelines to assist hospital credentialling committees in their task of granting privileges to perform gastrointestinal endoscopy. Endoscopy of the gastrointestinal tract has evolved over the past 30 years as a potent tool to assist in the evaluation, diagnosis and therapy of patients with gastrointestinal tract disorders. Although gastrointestinal endoscopy was initially developed as a purely diagnostic tool, the development of therapeutic endoscopic techniques has dramatically expanded the role of gastrointestinal endoscopy, frequently to a therapeutic one. In setting guidelines for training and credentialling one must recognize that, excluding flexible sigmoidoscopy, endoscopists should be well trained in therapeutic endoscopy.

Informed consent has undergone a transformation from an ethical concept to a legal doctrine. It is based on the ethical principles of self-determination and autonomy. Over the past several years, courts have established physician liability based on the failure to obtain adequate informed consent. It is the duty of all gastrointestinal endoscopists to obtain legally adequate informed consent before performing any endoscopic procedure.

The experiments reported in this article were conducted co-operatively by the University of California Agricultural Experiment Station and the United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils and Agricultural Engineering

A good underleaf spray coverage with contact acaricide achieved good control of spider mites on cotton in tests in the San Joaquín Valley.

The experiments reported in this article were conducted co-operatively by the University of California Agricultural Experiment Station and the United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils and Agricultural Engineering.