title: The price of guidelines: revising the national guidelines for managing Australian women with abnormal pap smears.
abstract: Australia utilises nationally approved guidelines for managing women with abnormal Pap smears. The guidelines were recently revised using the process designated by the National Health and Medical Research Council. Revising the guidelines was protracted and controversial. This paper explores the reasons for the difficulties encountered and queries the cost of undertaking such work.
authors.affiliation: Victorian Cytology Service, PO Box 178, Carlton South, VIC 3053, Australia. hmitchel@vcs.org.au
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mitchell
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D004180:Direct Service Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005382:Financing, Personal / Q000191:economics; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000191:economics; D008485:Medical Audit; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards*; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy