Introduction of the Bethesda System to Mainland China with a Web-based tutorial.
OBJECTIVE
To validate the use of a Web-based tutorial to introduce the Bethesda System (TBS) to Mainland Chinese laboratories.


METHODS
Digitized color images of the diagnostic features in 20 Pap smears were displayed on a Web page. Participants were asked to give each smear a diagnosis using the reporting nomenclature employed in their laboratory or one that was familiar to them. This was followed by teaching images of each smear accompanied by text in English and Chinese that highlighted important features for making a diagnosis using TBS. Participants then reviewed the 20 original Pap smears and rendered a diagnosis using TBS.


RESULTS
Pathologists and cytotechnologists at 17 laboratories located in 10 cities completed the exercise. The average diagnostic accuracy for the 20 Pap smears before and after the tutorial was 76% and 88%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Web-based tutorials can be used for disseminating cytologic information to widely dispersed laboratories in China and help enhance the practice of cytology, currently an underutilized diagnostic technique. However, such difficulties as lack of Internet connections in the laboratory, outdated computers and a lack of interest in cytology need to be overcome to ensure success.
Yuan
Qin
Q
Department of Anatomical and Cellular Pathology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong, S.A.R., China.
Chang
Alexander Russell
AR
Ng
Ho Keung
HK
D000488:Allied Health Personnel; D002681:China; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D010338:Pathology, Clinical; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000145:classification*