The New Jersey Bowel Preparation Scale: A More Objective and Detailed Scoring System for Screening Colonoscopies

Goals. The goal of this study was to develop an objective and detailed scoring system to assess the quality of bowel preparation. Background. The quality of bowel preparation impacts the success of the colonoscopy. We developed and compared a new bowel preparation scoring system, the New Jersey Bowel Preparation Scale (NJBPS), with existing systems that are limited by a lack of detail and objectivity in the Boston Bowel Preparation Scale (BBPS) and the Ottawa Bowel Preparation Scale (OBPS). Methods. This was a single-center, prospective, dual-observer study performed at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School University Hospital. Patients who were at medium risk for colorectal cancer and undergoing outpatient screening colonoscopy were enrolled in the study, and their bowel preparation was assessed separately by an attending and a fellow using each of the bowel preparation scoring systems. Results. 98 patients were analyzed in the study, of which 59% were female. Most of the patient population was African American (65%) or Hispanic (25%). The average age of the patient was 60 years. Chi-squared analysis using SPSS software revealed intraclass correlation coefficient values between attending and fellow scores for each scale. The NJBPS had the highest value at 0.988, while the BBPS and OBPS had values of 0.883 and 0.894. Limitations. Single-center study. Conclusions. The NJBPS and BBPS scores demonstrated a statistically significant agreement with each other. Overall, there was good interobserver agreement for all three scoring systems when comparing attendings to fellows for the same scoring system. However, the NJBPS possessed a stronger correlation.