Endoscopy teams' judgment of discomfort among patients undergoing colonoscopy: "How bad was it really?".

Questions Under Study / Principles: Colonoscopies are complex procedures that depend greatly on the patient's cooperation and on the correct judgment of a tolerable amount of discomfort by the endoscopy team, even in sedated patients. Little is known regarding the accuracy of the patient comfort level assessments made by medical staff.

Methods: We prospectively evaluated the degree of agreement between the assessments made by the endoscopists and endoscopy nurses and the assessments made by patients regarding their comfort level during the procedure.