Rescreening as a quality control procedure in cytopathology.

Area of Science:

• Cytopathology
• Quality Assurance
• Statistical Methods

Background:

• Cytopathologist dissatisfaction with the current 10% rescreening regulation for internal monitoring of cytoscreener performance.
• The Center for Disease Control and Social Security Administration's regulation lacks specified performance criteria and a decision rule.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address deficiencies in current cytoscreener monitoring.
• To propose an attribute acceptance sampling plan as a statistically robust alternative.

Main Methods:

• Discussion of an attribute acceptance sampling approach.
• Application to the rescreening of "negative" cytopathology slides.
• Defining performance criteria and decision rules for monitoring.

Main Results:

• Attribute acceptance sampling plans can fulfill the mission elements of a monitoring strategy.
• This approach provides specified performance criteria and a decision rule.

Conclusions:

• The acceptance sampling approach offers a statistically sound method for monitoring cytoscreener performance.
• Implementing this strategy can improve the reliability of internal quality control in cytopathology.