Benchmarking is necessary to measure products and services and contrast them with similar organizations or leaders in the selected aspects. In health care, it helps to determine the weaknesses of an organization and improve long-term strategic goals. It means that if all benchmarks of an organization are sustained, the level of health security and health care delivery increases. For example, a balanced scorecard considers performance benchmarks in the main organizational areas: customers, internal processes, learning, and growth (Kaplan & Norton, 2005).
The Training Committee of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) uses benchmarks for evaluating trainee progress. The metric is called Assessment of Competency in Endoscopy (ACE). It consists of 9 questions assessing the motor and cognitive skills and evaluation by professionals of the trainee’s Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) performance. Health care supervisors and a comprehensive test helped trainees decrease the EGD procedure time from 6.6 to 2.5 minutes. Therefore, the Mayo Clinic requires trainees to exceed the competency benchmarks before graduating fellowship. The given metrics are categorized as practice benchmarks involving qualitative data. The ASGE implements useful benchmarks because it facilitates competency-based education. Being a novice for many medical centers already brings positive outcomes. It proves that this benchmarking aids trainee in passing successful fellowship programs and improving their competency during accreditation.
Miller et al. (2019) suggest distinguishing between gross motor endoscope control and total procedural competency in the benchmarks. Thus, the assessment should start from the basic skills of the procedure’s understanding and extend to the most challenging tasks and pathology recognition. Thus, the ASGE would evaluate trainees’ therapeutic maneuvers and cognitive decision-making. This suggestion will improve the organization’s benchmarking and diagnostic accuracy in health care delivery.
References
Alexander T. Miller, Robert E. Sedlack, Walter J. Coyle, Keith L. Obstein, Michael A. Poles, Francisco C. Ramirez, Frank J. Lukens, C. Prakash Gyawali, Jennifer A. Christie, Denise Kalmaz, Carol A. Burke, Felicity Enders, Joseph J. Larson, & Amy S. Oxentenko. (2019). Competency in esophagogastroduodenoscopy: a validated tool for assessment and generalizable benchmarks for gastroenterology fellows.Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, 90(4), 613–620.
Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (2005). Using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.