Thank you, Michelle, for arranging this just before the DDW, and I want to thank Sam, Kevin, and my good friend Andrew for participating in this program. And being a fan of endoscopy technicians and nurses, I would like to dedicate this program to them. So what I would like to do is, as an endoscopist, we all know that the outcome depends upon the team, and endoscopy technician plays a key role. And if you look at how many jobs does an endoscopy technician perform, on the left side you notice that they are in charge of equipment maintenance and disinfection, setting up the room, assisting with the diagnostic procedures, as well as various therapeutic procedures. You know, you just heard about the passion of Dr. Andrew Storm trying to do what is needed to avoid surgery. In all those procedures, technicians play a critical role. And on the right, you will see a couple of images that indicate the different instruments that the technicians operate and are responsible for making sure that we do a good job with our procedures. And this list was made by 10 technicians in Houston as part of the curriculum development for the endoscopy tech training program. Actually, they spent about two days with the dean of the Houston Community College for curriculum development, and they came up with this list. So I would like to tell the story from the point of three organizations, Houston Community College, my institution, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the American Society for GI Endoscopy, my favorite society. And these three players played a significant role in the development of endoscopy tech training program. So let me start with what we did at the Houston Community College. So this journey started in 2015, right? We made a pitch to the chancellor, Dr. Cesar Maldonado of Houston Community College about starting a program. And we were very fortunate to work with Dr. Phil Nekotera, the president of the Coleman College, which actually deals with all the medical assistants and technicians part of the training in the Texas Medical Center. And he recognized that there is a need, and we developed an advisory board. We met for almost two years, almost every month, consisting of my colleagues from the endoscopy unit, my nurses, my technicians, as well as my colleagues from the medical center. And we came up with the program that was actually approved by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. And without that approval, you cannot start any program in a community college. And finally, we decided to launch the program in 2021. So in terms of this program launch, I would also like to show you the group that actually participated. And this is a photograph that we took to celebrate that we have actually finalized the program after working for almost two years. I didn't realize that it takes that much time, but I've learned a lot. So this is what we have created. We created a 35 credit hour program that leads to a level two certificate consisting of training in cognitive aspects of endoscopy, as well as learning technical aspects of endoscopy. This is a one-year course. I had the special privilege of working with an educator, Ms. Sanjeev Suresh, who had formal training in education with a master's in education. And she also taught for Teach for America, high school kids. And Ms. Angela Deal, a medical illustrator who used to be on a faculty at UT Southwestern illustration school. And we decided to work together for almost four to five years and created the entire endoscopy learning material. And that was illustrated in almost over 2000 illustrations created so that the students can learn very easily. And thanks to the philanthropy support from my institution that made this project possible. We also decided that to use the flipped classroom type of approach, all the lectures covering 19 credit hours of material was converted into five to seven minute videos. And all these videos were provided to the Houston Community College. And we felt that others across the country will benefit. So we made it available on YouTube. So if any one of you want to access this, you can go to the HCC 1473, 1472, different courses, everything was very well structured. And thanks to the philanthropy support that made it possible. So after going through starting in 2015, we were very fortunate to start the first batch in 2021 level two certificate for one year in this brand new building of Houston Community College. And we are very pleased to share with you that three batches graduated so far. And another batch is going to graduate early next week. So this is the first batch. And we were lucky to recruit at least three of the graduating students from this batch. And then the second batch, and the third batch. And you see the director of endoscopy tech training, Miss Melissa Bruton there, who actually worked very hard to make this program successful. So we also felt that we should have an external validation of their training. And I'm pleased to share with you that several of our colleagues work together to create a 400 question bank. And that was peer reviewed by about 10 experts. And this is a question paper that was given to the students at the end of their training. As you can see here, the blue was the first batch, the yellow was the second batch, and the green was my own endoscopy technicians, which were taken as the standard, their results to be taken as standards. And the pass mark was 75% correct response. And as you can see, although we had a little bit trouble with the first batch, we all learn as we start any new program, we are able to see very satisfactory results with the second and third, and now with the fourth batch. So these students went to class for one year, and they went to class Tuesday evening and the Thursday evening from four to eight, and then one day of the week for clinical training in the first semester, and two days of the week in the second semester. We also, I want to thank Dr. Jeff Greikow, the Dean of the Houston Community College, who took upon himself to create this trial learning assessment for experienced technicians. Any technician who has four years of experience, they can go through this path. And if they pass the ASGE test, they test out almost 60 to 70% of the 35 credit hours. And that is a huge saving. And then they can take some more classes online, and they will get level two certificate with 35 credit hours under their belt. So now I would like to share with you about my own institution's effort. And I must thank my group, not only my endoscopy group, but also the leadership of my institution, Dr. Pistos, Dr. Hackberg, and other senior leaders who actually allowed us to donate the entire education material to the Houston Community College, and also to the American Society for GI Endoscopy, free of cost. They wanted to make sure that others benefit. And in addition to that, I must share with you something that we all can benefit, that we have not taken advantage of this. The U.S. Department of Labor offers apprenticeship type of training program for workforce development. And we actually took advantage of it, and we have the first student, her name is Micah. She is actually going through this apprenticeship program while also attending the Houston Community College, and she is working full time at MD Anderson Cancer Center under the supervision of two perceptors. And this is a win-win, because it will actually offer the apprentice a pathway for learning, and also a pathway to get absorbed into the healthcare system. For the institution, they will have a pool of trained people that they have trained that they can absorb them. In addition, there are tax benefits to the institution as well. And we want to share this experience, and we are pleased that the ASGE has selected this thing as a poster. And if you are interested, please come to the poster on Sunday. We can actually share more details. I must also share with you that the Houston Community College leadership, Dr. Jeff Greikar, Ms. Melissa Bruton, and the current professor, Amicia, for endoscopy tech training, will be there at the ASGE Learning Center. They wanted to see how they can help others interested in training their technician and workforce. Our institution felt that there is a need to create a rapid training program. And our leadership in the education department, they have created this 12-week program. And we have had at least two bachelors graduate with this 12-week program. And I also want to share that if your endoscopy unit wants to train your nurses and technicians, our group has experimented with this idea of a 12-week intensive training program consisting of self-directed learning, pre-tests, and practice tests at different points, followed by taking the ASGE certification test. And this is what you can see, the results, the pre-test versus post-test in different areas. And I encourage you to attend a presentation by my director of endoscopy, Jordan. He's giving a presentation on Sunday. So at this point, I would also like to share that I'm really grateful to the leadership of the ASGE for taking the proactive step of helping our endoscopy units build a team by creating the ASGE endoscopy tech training program. And this will be discussed by my colleague, Kevin Janssen, later on. So in summary, what all options are available? One, Houston Community College. We have a track record of Level 2 certificate for anybody coming fresh. There's an opportunity for experienced technicians to get a Level 2 certificate. And with that, they can actually go to the next level, associate degree, and even bachelor's degree in health care administration. Two of my technicians, Ms. Claudia and Ms. Dang, are currently pursuing associate degree. And later, they want to take up the bachelor's degree in health care administration. And you know that this will create a pathway for building your own leadership as you expand your operation. Regarding the ASGE, we have this unique benefit as group members. If an endoscopy unit joins as a group member, their endoscopy nurses and technicians will have access to the entire education program there free of cost. They also become associate members. And there's an opportunity to take a certification of completion at the ASGE. And if they do that, they can actually register to the Houston Community College and get almost 60% to 70% of the credits so that they can actually go on to building their own career. And the current technicians who want to take up the pathway, there is this pathway by taking the ASGE test. So there are lots of options that are currently available. And I want to take a minute to share with you, so many people worked on this. From the community college, my own endoscopy unit, my colleagues from Baylor, Cal Patel and RJ, and Mr. Tom Slocum from Boston Scientific, my leadership, Randy Anderson, and my colleagues. And also, I want to thank the leadership in ASGE. And this would not have been possible without philanthropy support. And I would like to thank you for your time. And we will hear from Dr. Andrew Storm later. Thank you.

endoscopy technicians

training program

Houston Community College

apprenticeship model

flipped classroom