Self-reported desire to improve colposcopic impressions

Background: Women who participate in cervical cancer screening programs mus t have access to high quality colposcopy services when their cytology test are abnormal. The purpose of this project is to evaluate colposcopic servic es currently available in New Hampshire and whether colposcopy providers ar e willing to network to maintain and improve their colposcopic pattern reco gnition skills in order to improve their colposcopic correlations. Methods: A survey was mailed to 1314 providers throughout New Hampshire. The survey ascertained the extent of current colposcopic services in New Hampshire th rough practitioner and practice demographics, the cervical procedures perfo rmed, the self-reported colposcopy skill level, and the self-reported quali ty of past colposcopic education. It also measured interest in networking w ith others to improve their colposcopic pattern recognition skills. Results : The survey response rate was 62%. 145 of the 810 respondents (18%) are cu rrently performing colposcopies, indicating a statewide potential colposcop y accommodation rate of 3.5 to 7 women per month per colposcopist. 57% of t he physician assistants, 59% of the family physicians, 75% of the gynecolog ists and 100% of the nurse practitioners were interested in enhancing their colposcopic pattern recognition skills by networking through quarterly mee tings. Conclusions: The crude accommodation rate for colposcopy appears suf ficient for the women of New Hampshire although the geographic distribution of the colposcopists is unknown. A majority of the colposcopists were inte rested in networking to improve their colposcopic pattern recognition skill s, which could improve patient care.