title: [A project to improve the screening rate of pap smear for cervical cancer].
abstract: The incidence of cervical cancer in Taiwan is high and ranks as the seventh highest in the world. However, only 28.4% of the women in Kaohsiung underwent Pap smear screening. Ironically, the screening rate for female patients in our hospital was even lower at 13.2%. As medical staff in a public, community hospital, we have the responsibility to promote the health of our residents. The aim of this project was to increase the Pap smear screening rate to 28.0% in our community. The prior data analysis revealed that the low rate of Pap smear screening was related to inadequate information about the Pap smear, poor health knowledge among the women in this community, long processing time (50.86 +/- 5.88 minutes), inconvenient accessibility, and the lack of good explanation from our medical staff. The situation has significantly improved after we made adjustments including: providing an education program for women in our community, reduction of processing time, and convenient home services. The Pap smear screening rate increased from 13.2% to 28.4. The entire processing time was reduced to 20.48 +/- 2.28 minutes. We encourage women of all ages to take Pap smear tests regularly, which would be helpful for the prevention of cervical cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Kaohsiung County Feng Shan Hospital, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Hisn-Hua
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Shu-Hwa
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shiou-Yu
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Jeng
authors.forename: Hsiu-Min
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D014626:Vaginal Smears