The effect of technical training for the continuous improvement of the quality in cytological diagnosis

In our country general indicators to assess the effectiveness of Programs for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer keep high. Objectives: To evaluate the effects of the technical training for the continuous improvement of cytological diagnosis of the cervical cancer at "Abel Santamaria Cuadrado" University Hospital, during 20052007. Design: An intervention-action research was conducted in order to assess the effectiveness of the technical training process for improving quality in the diagnosis performed by the technicians of the specialty, measured through the correlation between the first diagnosis issued by technical personnel and a second one by the Pathologist, taken from a sample of 22864 cytologies. General concordance and the type of lesion were the variables used, applying descriptive statistics for categorical qualitative variables expressed in absolute frequencies and relative percentages. Frequency comparisons were verified by means of a chi square test, 95% of confidence and Kappa test for the correlation among observers. Results: An enhancement of concordance was found in 2007 in relation to the period of 20052006, highly significant (X = 75.0; gdl =1; p = 0.00000001). Concordance regarding the diagnosis increased, except in NIC-III. Conclusion: It was proved that technical training process influenced on the continuous improvement of the quality for cytological diagnosis.