ENDOSCOPY ROOM EQUIPMENT

When equipping endoscopy units, the BSG Report¹ recommends that each room should contain piped oxygen, suction, pulse oximetry and facilities for ECG monitoring. Of the hospitals that completed the section on equipment, 5% (9/189) of hospitals had no oxygen in any endoscopy rooms and a further three (1.5%) only had it in some rooms. 99% (188/189) of hospitals had pulse oximetry in every room but only 47% (87/187) had ECG monitoring in every room and 37% (69/187) did not have any ECG monitors in the unit. It
is recommended² that ECG monitoring is needed for those patients with significant cardiac risk and therefore those units which do not have any ECG facilities should address this issue as a matter of urgency.