Home study course: spring 2009.
GLOBAL OBJECTIVE: The Home Study Course is intended for the practicing colposcopist or practitioner who is seeking to develop or enhance his/her colposcopic skills. The goal of the course is to present colposcopic cases that are unusual or instructive in terms of appearance, presentation, or management or that demonstrates new and important knowledge in the area of colposcopy or pathology. Participants may benefit from reading and studying the material or from testing their knowledge by answering the questions.


BACKGROUND
Target learners for Home Study Courses are colposcopists in clinical practice and may include gynecologists, family physicians, pathologists, residents in training in any one of these specialties, gynecologic oncologists, and midlevel providers such as nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, and certified nurse midwives.


BACKGROUND
The ASCCP is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The ASCCP designates this education activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.The Home Study Course is planned and produced in accordance with the ACCME's Essential Areas and Elements and Updated Criteria.
As an accredited provider of CME credit, ASCCP is required to comply with the ACCME's Standards of Commercial Support and has implemented a process to manage potential conflicts of interest. We have a process to ensure that anyone who is in a position to affect the content of the educational activity (e.g., faculty, planners, etc.) has disclosed to us all relevant financial relationships with any commercial interest. The ASCCP then discloses to learners any relevant financial relationship(s) to include the following information: (1) the name of the individual; (2) the name of the commercial interest; and (3) the nature of the relationship the person has with each commercial interest. Slides are reviewed for possible bias before the course by the Editor, and concerns are resolved before publication. Any discussion of off-label use of products is noted. Disclosures of these commitments and/or relationships will be published in the enduring materials, so those learners in the activity may formulate their own judgments regarding the presentation(s). Under ASCCP policy, anyone declining either to disclose or amend material to eliminate potential bias identified by the Editor will be replaced.


BACKGROUND
: R. Kevin Reynolds, MD (author); L. Stewart Massad, MD (Accreditation and Enduring Materials Chair); Deborah L. McClain (Home Study Course Staff Administrator); Thomas M. Julian, MD (Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease Executive Editor); and Sandra Smith (Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease Administrative Assistant to the Editor) have no such financial relationship or conflict of interest to report.Richard W. Lieberman, MD (author): Science and Technology International (consultant).Mark Spitzer, MD (Home Study Course Editor): Merck (advisory board, honorarium); Elsevier (book author or CD author, royalty); Quest Laboratories (speaker's bureau, honorarium); SABK (book author or CD author, royalty)Kathleen G. Poole (ASCCP, Executive Director): Pfizer (stockholder); Eli Lilly & Co. (stockholder).


CONCLUSIONS
: The clinical history and images in the Home Study Course may represent an actual case, but not always. To improve educational quality, some gross, cytological, or histological images may come from photographic libraries. Good teaching cases are often difficult to obtain, and we encourage our readers to submit cases with high-quality images to the Home Study Course Editor or Executive Editor to consider for publication.


BACKGROUND
All images courtesy of Richard W. Lieberman, MD.
Reynolds
R Kevin
RK
Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Lieberman
Richard W
RW
D003127:Colposcopy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology; D014626:Vaginal Smears; D055815:Young Adult