January 2011

Mary R. Schwartz, MD

It’s in the mail. No, not the check. Even better: the 2011 CAP Pap supplemental questionnaire. It will arrive with the 2011 Pap A mailing. If you participate in the CAP Interlaboratory Comparison Program in Gynecologic Cytopathology, an important survey will be inside.

Please complete this survey. Your responses are important. They provide a broad look at current practice patterns in a variety of laboratory settings and communities. Your responses help to set benchmarks used in quality assurance programs and the CAP Laboratory Accreditaton Program.

Summary findings from Pap supplemental questionnaires are published in the peer-reviewed literature, providing critical information for establishing practice guidelines. Selected papers reporting findings of the previous Pap supplemental questionnaires follow:

• Moriarty AT, Schwartz MR, Eversole G, et al. Human papillomavirus testing and reporting rates: Practices of participants in the College of American Pathologists Interlaboratory Comparison Program in Gynecologic Cytology in 2006. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2008;132:1290–1294.
• Moriarty AT, Clayton AC, Zaleski S, et al. Unsatisfactory reporting rates: 2006 practices of participants in the College of American Pathologists Interlaboratory Comparison Program in Gynecologic Cytology. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2009;133:1912–1916.
• Eversole G, Moriarty AT, Schwartz MR, et al. Practices of participants in the College of American Pathologists Interlaboratory Comparison Program in Cervicovaginal Cytology, 2006. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2010;134:331–335.