Colorectal cancer screening with nurse-performed flexible sigmoidoscopy: results from a Canadian community-based program.

Background: Despite highest-quality evidence that early detection of colorectal cancer (CRC) can lead to reduced mortality, no organized CRC screening programs exist in Canada.

Objective: To report the safety, the feasibility, and the detection rate for the first Canadian community-based nurse-performed flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS) screening program for CRC, established in 1999.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis of data collected from a prospective study of FS done by nurses from March 1999 to November 2002.