Educational resources and opportunities for nurses in gastroenterology abound but too often go underused, said Kimberly Gallub, MSN, RN, the president of the Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates. Attending GIs and more experienced nurses play a critical role in ensuring those new to the field have access to the quality education and training offered by professional societies to optimize professional growth and enhance patient care.
Healthcare practitioners often come to a point in their career when they want more meaning in their day-to-day professional life, Ms. Gallub said. An important way to achieve that is to tap into professional societies and the networks, continuing education, and volunteer opportunities they provide. That’s why a recent decline in SGNA membership is troubling for the future of gastroenterology, she added.
“Recently, I interviewed attendees at an annual course to ask how they heard of SGNA. I spoke with 15 nurses, and none had ever heard of [us before],” Ms. Gallub said. “None of their doctors knew that SGNA existed,” even though SGNA is a sister organization to the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the American College of Gastroenterology. Many of the attending GIs working with these younger nurses were young themselves, said Ms. Gallub, speculating that younger GIs may not understand the vital role they have to play in steering nurses toward professional development opportunities.
Part of declining membership also may be structural and correlated with nursing education curricula, Ms. Gallub said, noting that most nursing students have rotations in pediatrics, surgery, intensive care, obstetrics and gynecology, and medical/surgical during their training. Nurses tend to gravitate toward specialties they’ve already had positive experiences with, and because they don’t have rotations in GI and endoscopy, those specialties typically don’t make the cut.
Ms. Gallub’s team is working to recruit more members by expanding their social media presence on platforms such as TikTok, but she noted a personal touch also makes a big difference. Ms. Gallub said when she sees nursing students in her facility, she goes out of her way to encourage them to consider gastroenterology and endoscopy as an exciting specialty with ample opportunities.
Currently, she said, more than half of SGNA’s membership are staff nurses, and nearly 60% work in hospital settings (inpatient or outpatient).
Michelle Rabelo, MSN, RN, CRN, a nurse manager at Tampa General Hospital Endoscopy Center, in Fla., said due to numerous partnerships with regional hospitals, such as the University of South Florida Health Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa General has plenty of specialized GI nurses who can support general and advanced cases. However, she acknowledged that GI is a continually evolving field, and the need for more and better training remains. The question is how to make those opportunities available to nurses, she said, noting that at Tampa General, all newly hired GI nurses are paired with a mentor during orientation. Nurses can continue their education by participating in in-house classes, as well as formalized training and certifications that are reimbursed by the hospital.
Maleika Faiver, MSN, RN, who works in both inpatient and outpatient GI settings in Los Angeles, suggested that promoting continuing education opportunities may attract more nurses to GI as a specialty, she said.
Ms. Gallub said she agreed more robust continuing education in endoscopy is needed throughout the field. Without opportunities to train and the required support, nurses may not know what they’re actually looking for during a GI procedure. The pressure is on, she said, as referrals and practices expand from doing routine procedures such as esophagogastroduodenoscopies and colonoscopies to more advanced therapeutic offerings.
The crux of the issue, Ms. Faiver said, is that investing the time and energy in continuing education—even if it is free—is a challenging proposition for nurses if pay scales don’t reflect that training.
“There is not one specialty an RN can go into and receive the compensation that one might think would attach itself to [a specialty],” she said. “An RN who chose to stop at an ADN degree versus an RN who chose to advance to an MSN or add additional certifications should be compensated accordingly.”
One positive element Ms. Gallub said she has observed in recent years is that local high schools are graduating more students who want to pursue nursing than before the pandemic. But structural issues remain: Although a National League for Nursing annual survey indicated that fewer qualified applicants were turned away from nursing programs in 2023 than in previous years, there are still educational bottlenecks due to more instructors retiring and less interest in teaching because of burnout from nursing shortages (bit.ly/4gZqnlS). This makes engagement from doctors and other ancillary colleagues even more critical to keep current GI nurses invested and engaged in their professional growth and to attract new talent to the field.
“The more experienced generations need to let the younger ones know about all of these societies out there to help them,” Ms. Gallub said. “If they don’t, how do you get people [involved]?”
The annual SGNA membership costs about $100, but Ms. Gallub noted that members can apply for scholarships to attend the society’s annual conferences.
—Karen Fischer
This article is from the November 2025 print issue.