Diagnostic Accuracy of Community Physicians Performing Colposcopy

摘要

This study which assumed the acronym of IDSIC (Improving Diagnostic Skills InColposcopy) was a program designed to assist community physicians in assessing their diagnostic skills and accuracy in colposcopy. Colposcopy is a microscopic examination of the cervix used as a follow up diagnostic procedure after an abnormal Pap smear. The colposcopists' skill in determining the most abnormal site(s) on the cervix and directing the biopsy is critically important in the managmeent of a woman with an abnormal Pap smear. This study focused on twenty-five community based physicians in Arizona and followed them through their performance of twenty to fifty colposcopy exams. The physicians were asked to make a visual (colposcopic) diagnosis and this diagnosis was then compared to the histologic (laboratory) diagnosis to assess their accuracy. Accuracy as defined by a perfect match between colposcopic and histologic diagnosis was acceptable for all physicians ranging from twenty-five to thirty-two percent.