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World J Gastrointest Endosc. Sep 16, 2026; 18(9): 122102
Published online Sep 16, 2026. doi: 10.4253/wjge.122102
Published online Sep 16, 2026. doi: 10.4253/wjge.122102
Modifiable factors including weekend consultations are major contributors to inpatient colonoscopy delays
Thomas Y Li, School of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Thomas Y Li, Harini Gurram, Yan Li, Alexandra Sals, Rajesh N Keswani, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
Co-first authors: Thomas Y Li and Harini Gurram.
Author contributions: Li TY and Gurram H contributed to collecting the data, interpreting the data, and drafting and editing the manuscript as co-first authors; Li TY, Gurram H, and Keswani RN contributed to final revision of the manuscript; Gurram H and Keswani RN contributed to designing the study; Li Y and Sals A contributed to collecting the data and interpreting the data; all of the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
AI contribution statement: Generative AI tools were not used in the creation of this manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This retrospective cohort study was approved by the Northwestern University Institutional Review Board (No. STU00211125).
Informed consent statement: Given the retrospective cohort nature of this study, a waiver of informed consent was approved by the Northwestern University Institutional Review Board.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Keswani RN consults for Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Neptune Medical, Cook Medical, and Olympus. All authors report no other conflicts of interest.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement – checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement – checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: No additional datasets were generated.
Corresponding author: Thomas Y Li, School of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plz, Houston, TX 77030, United States. thomas.li@bcm.edu
Received: April 10, 2026
Revised: July 17, 2026
Accepted: August 28, 2026
Published online: September 16, 2026
Processing time: 153 Days and 21.2 Hours
Revised: July 17, 2026
Accepted: August 28, 2026
Published online: September 16, 2026
Processing time: 153 Days and 21.2 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: While clinical factors are known to delay inpatient colonoscopies, the impact of modifiable logistical factors is often underestimated. This study demonstrates that 39.2% of all delays have a logistical component, with weekend consultation being a dominant driver. Consultations initiated on Saturdays or Sundays were associated with 1.7 times increased odds of delay, and procedural delay was in turn associated with an increase in hospital length of stay by an average of 3.9 days. These findings suggest that establishing dedicated weekend endoscopy scheduling capacity and increasing weekend resource allocation to increase staffing offer an opportunity to improve patient care and hospital efficiency.