1. Mobile colposcopy by trained nurses in a cervical cancer screening programme at Battor, Ghana.
- Author
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Effah K, Wormenor MC, Tekpor E, Amuah JE, Atuguba HB, Mensah ENO, Badzi ES, Danyo S, Agyiri D, Klutsey GB, and Akakpo PK
- Subjects
- Female, Humans, Pregnancy, Colposcopy, Early Detection of Cancer methods, Retrospective Studies, Ghana, Cross-Sectional Studies, Mass Screening methods, Uterine Cervical Neoplasms diagnosis, Uterine Cervical Neoplasms prevention & control, Uterine Cervical Dysplasia diagnosis, Uterine Cervical Dysplasia surgery, Nurses
- Abstract
Objectives: Cervical precancer screening programs are difficult to establish in low resource settings partly because of a lack of human resource. Our aiming was to overcome this challenge. We hypothesized that this could be done through task shifting to trained nurses., Design: Descriptive retrospective cross-sectional review., Setting: Training was at the Cervical Cancer Prevention and Training Center (CCPTC) and screening was carried out at the clinic and at outreaches / peripheral facilities., Participants: All women who reported to the clinic for screening or were recruited during outreaches., Interventions: All 4 nurses were trained for at least 2weeks (module 1). A total of 904 women were screened by the trained nurses using the EVA system. Quality assurance was ensured., Main Outcome Measures: Primary screening and follow-up were carried out by the trained nurses with quality assured through image sharing and meetings with peers and experienced gynaecologists., Results: 828 women had primary screening and 76 had follow-up screening. 739 (89.3%) were screened at the clinic and 89 (10.7%) at outreaches/peripheral facilities. Of all screened, 130 (14.5%) had cervical lesions, and 25 (2.8%) were treated, 12 (48.0%) by Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure (LEEP) performed by a gynaecologist, 11 (44.0%) with thermal coagulation by trained nurses except one, and 2 (8.0%) with cryotherapy by trained nurses., Conclusion: We demonstrate the utility of a model where nurses trained in basic colposcopy can be used to successfully implement a cervical precancer screening and treatment program in low-resource settings., Funding: None indicated., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest, (Copyright © The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2022
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