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Women's preferences for providers of and settings for Pap smears
1Kaiser Permanente, Northern California, USA.
Objective:
To gauge women's flexibility in receiving Pap smears from someone other than their regular gynecologists, specifically, their general physicians.
Methods:
A random sample of 500 English-speaking women members (age 18-80) of Kaiser Permanente completed a 20-minute telephone survey (72% response rate). Ten focus groups and 75 in-person interviews gathered qualitative information.
Results:
Approximately half the surveyed women would see an unfamiliar gynecologist for a Pap smear (48%) and did not have a preference for the gender of the clinician (53%). Most women (72%) were open to seeing nurse practitioners if their regular gynecologists were not available. Although few women (26%) were initially positive about receiving Pap smears in their general medical clinics, half (45%) said they would prefer that to waiting for an appointment in gynecology. Interest was especially high (52%) among women with female rather than male internists or family practitioners (33%).
Conclusions:
Redesign efforts must emphasize choice in Pap smear delivery in order to increase convenience while respecting preferences for the existing system.