Older Women's Willingness to Discontinue Pap Tests
Older Women's Willingness to Discontinue Pap Tests
We postulate that a key determinant in the greater acceptance of limited screening by our patients was the presentation of the national guidelines in the context of a recommendation from the physician regularly seen by the patient. In a letter to the editor written in response to the study by Schwartz et al, Schwenk commented on the importance of the quality and the trustworthiness of the patient's relationship with her physician in patient's acceptance of less frequent screening. He suggested that the authors missed this critical influence in the decisions women make to undergo cervical cancer screening.
National focus on delivering high-quality, cost-effective care drives more limited use of testing where appropriate. Catalysts and barriers to patient acceptance of changing guidelines need to be identified, especially when new recommendations contradict previously endorsed care. While our findings focus specifically on the topic of cervical cancer screening, we may be able to generalize the results supporting patient acceptance of limited screening to other tests.
Discussion
We postulate that a key determinant in the greater acceptance of limited screening by our patients was the presentation of the national guidelines in the context of a recommendation from the physician regularly seen by the patient. In a letter to the editor written in response to the study by Schwartz et al, Schwenk commented on the importance of the quality and the trustworthiness of the patient's relationship with her physician in patient's acceptance of less frequent screening. He suggested that the authors missed this critical influence in the decisions women make to undergo cervical cancer screening.
National focus on delivering high-quality, cost-effective care drives more limited use of testing where appropriate. Catalysts and barriers to patient acceptance of changing guidelines need to be identified, especially when new recommendations contradict previously endorsed care. While our findings focus specifically on the topic of cervical cancer screening, we may be able to generalize the results supporting patient acceptance of limited screening to other tests.