ABSTRACT
Background and aim: During the pandemic phase, many of the Italian centers of endoscopy reduced their activities due to the limitation of the procedures and redistribution of the personnel. Despite these upheavals, the SIED-ANOTE accreditation program continued its activity thanks to the use of Information and Communication Technologies with a remote accreditation program. The present work evaluated whether during the pandemic phase the Endoscopy Units already accredited, maintained the SIED quality standards in terms of organization and management. Material(s) and Method(s): SIED-ANOTE accreditation lasts two years, at the end of which an on site reaccreditation assessment is needed. During Covid-19 pandemic reaccreditation visits, before conducted in person, were held remotely. The fields evaluated in the present work were those areas included in section 7 of SIED-ANOTE accreditation manual and specifically: the centers documentation system, the coherence of the mission and the vision, the methods used to achieve the goals, the methods for assessing the competence of the doctors, leadership, and management of human resources. Result(s): From March 2020 up to now, we remotely reaccredited 15 centers (8 at second reaccreditation visit;7 at first reaccreditation visit). Eight of these centers are in North, six in the Center, and one in the South of Italy. During remote reaccreditation visit a total of 52 quality indicator (median value: 3.0;95% CI: 1.74-5.19) were not satisfied at evaluation versus 89 (median value: 6.0;95% CI: 3.69-10.0) during on site visit (p=0.49). The main unsatisfied issues concerned the section of reprocessing (20 time), in particular the performance of microbiological tests and endoscopic unit staff number (7 times), especially shortage of nursing staff. During pandemic period, we measured a tripling of dissatisfaction with that requirement. Other chapters with not satisfied quality indicators were: compilation of the nursing charts (7 times), periodic assessments of medical and nursing skills (7 times), and compilation of the endoscopy report (3 times), assessment of expected targets (2 times). Conclusion(s): Thanks to the use of Information and Communication Technologies, the SIED-ANOTE accreditation program continues via remote route. The periodic re-accreditation system shows a constant performance's improvement of the Endoscopic Unit, even in such an overwhelming period. Redistribution of the personnel seems not yet been resolved after acute Covid-19 pandemic phases.Copyright © 2023. Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l.