P0428 - Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Education Among Gastroenterologists Performing Endoscopies During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results From a U.S. National Survey

Reem Q. Al Shabeeb, MD¹, Esther Lee, BS², Muhammad El Shatanofy, BS³, Erika Pashai, MD³, Ivy Benjenk, PhD³, Marian Sherman, MD³, Eric Heinz, MD, PhD³, David Yamane, MD³, Marie L. Borum, MD, EdD, MPH^3
1Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, VA; ²Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA; ³George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC

Introduction: PPE has served to protect providers against aerosol-generating procedures, like endoscopies. The improper use of PPE can increase the risk of viral transmission. This study evaluated the level of PPE education and/or training among gastroenterologists during the COVID-19 pandemic and assessed whether the education and/or training reduced provider fear levels during endoscopic procedures.

Methods: In this IRB-approved multi-center cross-sectional study, snowball sampling approach was used to disseminate a 42-question survey, pilot-tested for reliability and validity, to gastroenterologists across the United States. We collected information about provider demographics as well as education and PPE training. We also used a Likert scale from 1-10, with 10 being the greatest levels of fear possible, to gauge how PPE training and/or education affected fear levels during upper and lower endoscopies. Data was analyzed using Pearson’s chi-squared, Mann-Whitney U, and Wilcoxon rank tests with significance set at p < 0.05.

Results: We analyzed 69 responses from gastroenterologists at 30 sites across the nation. Respondents were attending physicians (75.4%) and gastroenterology fellows (24.6%). The majority of the providers (52.2%) reported having both education and training about the use of PPE, 44.9% noted having education only, and 2.9% reported having neither education nor training (p < 0.05). None of the providers reported having training only. Almost half of the providers (47.8%) felt that education and/or training helped reduce their fear during endoscopic procedures, while a third (33.3%) did not experience less fear and 18.8% were unsure. There was no significant differences in fear levels in providers who received both PPE education and training compared to those who received PPE education without training; first upper endoscopy (pre-vaccine: p=0.963; post-vaccine p=0.399) and first lower endoscopy (pre-vaccine: p=0.898; post-vaccine p=0.279).

Discussion: The majority of gastroenterologists in the United States have received education or training on using PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic. While PPE training, when combined with education, likely reduced COVID-19 transmission, it did not significantly reduce gastroenterologists’ fear. Future studies should evaluate factors that can result in fear reduction to allow for optimization of educational interventions.


Disclosures:


Reem Q. Al Shabeeb, MD¹, Esther Lee, BS², Muhammad El Shatanofy, BS³, Erika Pashai, MD³, Ivy Benjenk, PhD³, Marian Sherman, MD³, Eric Heinz, MD, PhD³, David Yamane, MD³, Marie L. Borum, MD, EdD, MPH³. P0428 - Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Education Among Gastroenterologists Performing Endoscopies During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results From a U.S. National Survey, ACG 2021 Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts. Las Vegas, Nevada: American College of Gastroenterology.