NOTIFICATION OF PAP SMEAR RESULTS : A VICTORIAN SURVEY

OBJECTIVE: To determine health practitioners' use of preprinted tear-off sections attached to all Papanicolaou (Pap) smear reports as a means of notifying women of their test results and to assess possible barriers to the use of these. METHOD: A questionnaire was sent to health practitioners who used the Victorian Cytology Service for their Pap smear reporting. RESULTS: A 74% response rate was achieved (1402/1886); 70.4% (987/1402) of respondents routinely used the tear-off section. Use was more common for negative Pap smear reports (62.8%) than for abnormal Pap smear reports (46.1%). The main barriers nominated by non users were a preference for an alternative approach and the impersonal nature of the communication. CONCLUSIONS: After 18 months, we conclude that preprinted tear-off sections appear to have an encouraging level of acceptability among practitioners. The laboratory has decided to maintain this initiative as a permanent feature.