|
On 10 November
2001 at the TVCS Watford meeting Sarah May gave us an insight
into the events, which led to the emergence of this new role.
Over the past
years the Government have issued various guidelines for running
and developing the health services. These have moved the power base
from medics to management and allowed some work normally associated
with medically qualified personnel to be undertaken by non-medical
but qualified staff, such as nurses running colposcopy clinics.
Staff shortages in laboratories, both medical and non-medical, combined
with press coverage of various incidents resulted in pressure from
within the Pathology profession to develop an extended role for
suitably qualified Biomedical scientists. This would relieve the
pressure on the dwindling number of pathologists whilst at the same
time creating an extension to the career path of some BMSs.
But why Cytology
first?
- It was recognised
that competency to practice is already regularly assessed internally
and externally in this field,
- an advanced
examination exists
- there has
always been some overlap in the existing roles of Cytopathologist
and Cytotechnologists.
The next
steps were:
- To obtain
both professional and government support.
- Identify
and set eligibility criteria as well as a clear clinical role.
- Create an
examination.
The job description
of this new post would be left to the individual trusts, the objective
being not simply to create a new manager but a new designated grade.
Support was
sought from:
- The DoH
for a grant and funding.
- The Royal
College of Pathologists for the development of the role of BMSs
into Pathologists territory
- Council
for Profession Supplementary to Medicine, to ensure that State
Registered rules are not breached, the new role being one of interpretation
and not diagnoses.
- NHSCSP to
ensure that staff have appropriate training and skills for the
new role.
The criteria
required for eligibility for this role
- IBMS membership
with State registration to Fellowship
- Five years
experience post state registration
- NHSCSP National
registration certificate in Cervical Cytology
- A named pathologist
mentor to shadow the reporting of 500 abnormal cases with documented
evidence to include details of primary screener opinion; checker
opinion; pathologist opinion; management
The course is
to be run over two days at a NHSCSP approved training school. The
emphasis is to be on patient management rather than smear grading,
however the candidate will be expected to have knowledge of all
aspects relating to cervical screening, litigation and working with
a multidisciplinary team (gynaecologists; oncologists, etc)
The examination
will entail
- 4 short
answer questions from a choice of 5, each answer covering approximately
one A4 sheet. Time allowed 1 hour.
- 20 multiple-choice
questions. Time allowed 15 minutes.
- Screening
of 12 cases. Time allowed 90 minutes.
- 8 cases
to be interpreted. Time allowed 90 minutes.
A statement
concerning applications for the examination appeared in the August
IBMS Gazette stating that they would be available from 1st September
2001.
Three examinations
were held at the end of year 2001 for a total of 24 candidates,
quite an achievement as the advanced course was not held until November
and one assumes that it would take a little while to shadow 500
cases!
At the time
of writing no more examinations or courses are planned but we were
all assured that details are soon to be finalised with more courses
in the spring of 2002.
|