The effect of a didactic course on gastroenterology nurses' knowledge and interest in anorectal manometry

Anorectal manometry may be performed by a nurse or physician, yet little has been written about what training is needed. Additionally, many gastroenterology nurses receive little exposure to motility studies such as anorectal manometry, limiting their ability to learn these procedures. We therefore sought to evaluate whether a short didactic course on anorectal manometry would increase nurses' knowledge about the procedure and stimulate their interest in becoming trained to perform it. To accomplish this, gastroenterology nurses attended a series of three lectures on anorectal manometry. A 15-question quiz was given as a pre-test and again as a post-test after completing the course. Thirteen nurses participated (11 female, mean age 46). None had experience performing anorectal manometry. Due to the course, test scores increased from a mean of 8.4 (55.9%) correct to 13.3 (88.7%) (p <.001), with improvements noted in 12 of 13 participants (92.3%). All of the nurses felt that the course increased their knowledge of anorectal manometry and reported that they would recommend it to other nurses. Most (61.5%) also expressed an interest in becoming trained to perform anorectal manometry. In conclusion, a short didactic course has been shown to increase nurses' knowledge and interest in performing anorectal manometry.