"Slow, Careful, Compulsive": Endoscopists' Personalities Drive Differences in Tumor Detection Rates

​The personality traits of individual endoscopists better explained variations in adenoma detection rates than did financial incentives, malpractice concerns, or perceptions of detection rates as a quality metric, according to an October 13, 2018, study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. The authors used electronic health data collected between October 2013 and September 2015 to determine physicians' adenoma detection rates in four health systems. They then surveyed the physicians (117 of whom responded) to assess their financial motivations, knowledge and perceptions of colonoscopy quality, and personality traits. Although adenoma detection rates across all physicians surveyed were close (with a median of 29.3%), endoscopists who self-described as "compulsive" demonstrated detection rates of 33.1% to 32.9%.