ROLE OF RE-SCREENING OF CERVICAL SMEARS IN INTERNAL QUALITY-CONTROL

Aims-To investigate the use of rapid rescreening as a quality control method for previously screened cervical slides; to compare this method with 10% random rescreening and clinically indicated double screening. Methods-Between June 1990 and December 1994, 117 890 negative smears were subjected to rapid re-screening. Results-This study shows that rapid rescreening detects far greater numbers of false negative cases when compared with both 10% random re-screening and clinically indicated double screening, with no additional demand on human resources. The technique also identifies variation in the performance of screening personnel as an additional benefit. Conclusion-Rapid re-screening is an effective method of quality control. Although less sensitive, rapid re-screening should replace 10% random re-screening and selected re-screening as greater numbers of false negative results are detected while consuming less resources.