Ideas That Work: GI Saturdays Help Centers Stay on Track

Practical pearls from your colleagues

Got a backlog of colonoscopy cases clogging up your center’s schedule? Blocking out just one Saturday a year to focus on the backlog can work wonders. Allegheny Health Network originally started “GI Saturdays” as an offering for its own staff, but then the idea quickly gained momentum until it became the program it is today: a Saturday where staff agrees to come in to work for a full-day affair in order to cut into the backlog of colonoscopies.

“We usually work until around 3:00 p.m., lunch is provided, and it just works out really well for everyone,” says TaNisha Cheatham, BSN, RN, director of nursing at Westmoreland Endoscopy Center (part of Allegheny Health Network, located in Greensburg, Pa.). OSM