Frequency of pap smear among doctors: A pilot study

Carcinoma of the cervix is one of the three leading causes of deaths among females worldwide. Pap smear is a simple and very cost-effective method to detect carcinoma of the cervix. The objective of our study was to determine the frequency of papsmear among doctors, so the alarming situation of sloppiness in the screening program can be highlighted.

The interview-based survey was conducted; multiple questions were asked from the participants. It was a pilot study. Sixty doctors who were married (working in a teaching hospital) were recruited from Rashid Latif Medical College, Lahore from June 2018 - November 2018 and associated tertiary care teaching hospitals for the study. Ethical consideration was taken into account and secrecy of participants were maintained.

All data was entered in SPSS 21 and statistical analysis was done in terms of frequencies. Only 25% of doctors have a pap smear once in their life. Majority 75% of the doctors never have papsmear in their lifetime, few reasons were a shortage of time (27%) and shyness (5%). Regarding HPV vaccination 89% of the participants were willing to have HPV vaccination for their daughters.

This study shows the poor implementation of the cancer screening programme in Pakistan. The general public should be informed about the benefits of HPV vaccination.