Background: Since 2011 the Central Finland Central Hospital has implemented blended training for gastroenterology as a mandatory part of surgery and internal medicine resident training. The aim of this training is to provide an overall view of the role of endoscopy with regard to diagnosis of diseases and symptoms, endoscopy indications and common findings as well as procedures and their follow-up. The length of the course is approximately three months which includes self-learning tasks such as web-based learning, written assignments and practising with a computer-based endoscopy simulator. Methods: In 2011 the training course started with 20 participants, of whom 45% had no previous experience with simulator training. Some 85% of participants were undergoing specialty training, most of them in surgery and others in internal medicine or general practice, the rest of the participants were health centre physicians. The research data included participants’ simulator performance data, videos and numerical parameters. Questionnaire data relating to the participants’ performance and completion of the course were also collected and analysed. Results: Sixteen participants completed the course and performed a total of 497 training tasks: 247 gastroscopies (mean 15 per trainee) and 255 colonoscopies (mean 16 per trainee). From the simulator performance data the two specialist surgeons assessed in detail the first and last performances of the six participants who had made at least five repetitions in at least five different tasks in both colonoscopy and gastroscopy. The analyses involved the simulator parameters, training videos and performance reports filled by the six trainees. The results showed that the skills of these trainees had improved especially with regard to fluency of endoscope movement, time spent with clear view and performance time. The trainees themselves assessed the improvement in their skills similarly, the greatest improvement being reported in coordination, handling the endoscope and maintaining a clear view, while the least improvement was reported in procedure planning and paying attention to ergonomics during the procedure. The instructors had a total workload of 24 hours. Participants’ suggestions for improvement of the course included increasing personal feedback and theory lessons. By the end of the year 2014 the endoscopy course had been successfully completed by 38 participants, 23 surgical residents, 10 internal medicine residents, one radiology resident and four primary care doctors. Conclusions: Use of this blended training approach in an endoscopy course ensures that all surgical and internal medicine residents are receiving a broad view of the use of gastrointestinal endoscopy examination. Practical training with a simulator motivates young physicians to systematically study and familiarise themselves with the investigation and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases in the future, too. Well-designed endoscopy courses can be implemented with reasonable instructor effort.