Taking a satisfactory cervical cytologic smear. Is it really an easy procedure?
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the correlation between the experience of the cervical cytologic smear provider and the quality of the smears in terms of the percentages of satisfactory smears and contribution of the various factors affecting the smear's adequacy.


METHODS
A newly available quality control system was used to evaluate the adequacy of 4,000 smears.


RESULTS
Of 4,000 smears, 660 (16.5%) were classified as "satisfactory but limited" or "unsatisfactory." Technical factors contributed 1.0%, while 15.5% were due to sampling factors, considered human errors. Thus, human error accounted for 90% of the total number of unsatisfactory smears.


CONCLUSIONS
Greater experience with smear sampling is associated with fewer unsatisfactory smears. The results correlate directly with the total number of smears taken annually. Sampling skill improves in steps, with improvement limited beyond a certain point.
Bar-Am
A
A
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology A, Hakyria Maternity Hospital, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
Niv
J
J
Segal
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology*; D004396:Coloring Agents; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008679:Metaplasia; D008875:Middle Aged; D011786:Quality Control; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*
D004396:Coloring Agents