• Janet Fallon and Medford Andrew R L ARL 0000-0001-5445-5949 North Bristol Lung Centre, Southmead Hospital, Bristol, UK..
• Respiratory Medicine, North Bristol Lung Centre, Southmead Hospital, Bristol, UK.
• Thorac Cancer. 2017 Jul 1; 8 (4): 291-295.

BackgroundTrainees are performing fewer bronchoscopies as a result of the increased use of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration. Workforce planning and changes in trainee working patterns may also have compounded this situation. We investigated current trends in endobronchial biopsy (EBB) and transbronchial biopsy (TBB) training and competency in respiratory trainees and consultants across the United Kingdom.MethodsWe performed a national survey and received 131 online responses from 58 consultants and 73 registrars across 13 United Kingdom deaneries.ResultsA significant proportion (31%) of consultants, more than half of which were new consultants, had performed <500 bronchoscopies. Bronchoscopic biopsy experience varies widely across trainees and consultants (9.1% of senior trainees and 14.3% of new consultants had performed <100 bronchoscopies). Most trainees and some new consultants reported performing relatively low numbers of EBB (13% <20 and 52% <50 procedures) and TBB (75% of trainees, 36% of new consultants, 12% of established consultants <10 procedures). Significant numbers of trainees do not feel competent in EBB (24%) and TBB (89% of junior trainees, 64% of senior trainees) and some consultants (24% of new and established consultants) wish for support with TBB.ConclusionsThese results have implications for future specialist training, curriculum planning, and service configuration. Training and performance of EBB and TBB may become concentrated in centers with an adequate volume of these procedures. Higher volumes of EBB and TBB may well be more likely to occur paradoxically in centers without endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration; however, this hypothesis requires further study.© 2017 The Authors. Thoracic Cancer published by China Lung Oncology Group and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

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