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.


METHODS
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.
Mitchell
H
H
Medley
G
G
D003142:Communication; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D011177:Postal Service; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D014626:Vaginal Smears; D014739:Victoria