ASC Continuing Education For Cytotechnologists - Home Page
Welcome to the Continuing Education Home Page of the Australian Society of Cytology. This World Wide Web page
has been compiled to improve the professional and educational standards of members working in the field of diagnostic
cytology.
The Australian Society of Cytology was established in 1969 and is the sole national body whose activities are primarily
directed at enhancing diagnostic cytology. The primary objectives of the Society are to foster an interest in the training,
status and conditions of employment of cytologists within the Commonwealth of Australia, to achieve uniformity in the
interpretation and reporting of cytological findings, and to advance the knowledge and standards of clinical, diagnostic and
general cytology by means of seminars, lectures, case conferences and other activities.
The membership of the Society is approximately 800 of which 500 are non-medical or associate cytotechnologists and 300
are medical members. Since the inaugural meeting of the Society, which was held in Perth in 1970, the Society has been
actively involved in advancing the education of members. The Society sponsors Annual Scientific meeting where members
can update their skills in cytology by attending lectures and workshops presented by international and national experts in the
field. A quarterly newsletter (Cytoletter) is published by the Society for its members and includes scientific material and
information on branch and national activities, and provides a forum for interchange of information between members. The
Society has established a qualification for cytotechnologists: the Certificate of Cytotechnology of the Australian Society of
Cytology CT(ASC), and this examination has been held annually since 1975.
Background and Aims of the Continuing Education Program
The Society has for some time recognised the importance of encouraging members to maintain, update and improve their
diagnostic skills in cytopathology. Since the main focus of activity of the Society is educational, the Council of the Society
approved the establishment of a working party to explore the issue of continuing education for cytotechnologists with a view
to recommending a program suitable for adoption by the Society. The Society considers that a program of this nature would
improve the professional and educational standards of members working in the field. A continuing education program would
address all aspects of diagnostic cytology including gynaecological, non-gynaecological and fine needle aspiration cytology.
However, gynaecological cytology forms a major component in many Australian laboratories and due emphasis would be
placed in this area. This would contribute to quality reporting of cytology specimens which is an important step in the
screening pathway for the prevention of cervical cancer. This program will be specifically aimed at non-medical members
as medically qualified members of the Society are covered by current initiatives being developed by the Royal College of
Pathologist of Australasia. The chairman of the working party was Dr Darrel Whitaker and members of the party included Dr
Phillip Baird, Dr Jane Twin and Mr Mark Stevens.
The aims of the continuing education project were to:
- Develop a suitable program for cytotechnologists in Australia that will have a high level of compliance and provide
regular feedback and performance indicators that meet the needs of authorities such as NPAAC. Such a program needs to
have three components:
- The development of adequate opportunites for cytotechnologists to become involved in post graduate activities such
as tutotorials, workshops, access to cytology journals and literature.
- To provide a means by which individuals can gain credit for participation in these activities. This could be achieved by
keeping a personal diary of activities and submitting this information to a centre which collates the material, analyses the
data and provides feedback to individuals. This would enable participants to compare their own performance with that of a
peer group profile.
- The program needs to be revelant to the daily work and responsibilities of cytotechnologists and be structured in such
a way that encourages on-going participation in the scheme. The program must be easy to use and utilise efficiently the
time and effort of participants.
- Determine the resources and costs of establishing and maintaining a suitable program.
- Evaluate the development of educational and teaching aids for use by participants in the program.
As a result of the establishment of the working party a continuing education program for cytotechnologists was introduced.
The program was launched at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian Society of Cytology which was held in Canberra
in October 1997. The inaugural year of the scheme (1998) attracted a lot of interest from cytotechnologist members and by
the end of the year, approximately 240 had registred for the scheme. A review of the scheme took place at the end of the
first year and registrants are now receiving their peer review profiles and certificates of participation.
Following the implementation of the scheme, the working party was disbanded. The Society established
a Board of Education to overseas the running of the CEC Program and co-ordinate educational initiatives within
the Society. The inaugural meeting of the Board was held at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the ASC which was held
at the Gold Coast in October 1998. The Chairman of the Board is Dr Darrel Whitaker, and members include Dr Phillip Baird,
Dr Leslie Smith, Dr Val Surtees, Mrs L Beckett and Mr Mark Stevens.
The terms of reference of the Board are as follows:
- Provide a focus for education and training within the ASC and to foster educational activity in diagnostic
cytology by its membership.
- Provide support to the CEC Scheme for cytotechnologists.
- Provide support to Cytoletter, the Society's newsletter.
- Provide a reference group on all matters dealing with education in cytology.
- Initiate or support other possible educational activities of the ASC such as broadsheets, the Website and
other forms of teaching aids.
- Responsible for vetting overseas qualifications of those who apply for membership of the ASC.
- Establish links with other organisations where there is common interest in the provision of education.
Requests for further information can be
e-mailed via the ASC office or forwarded by post to:
Australian Society of Cytology Inc.
Suite 4, Oxford Corner
Unley, South Australia, 5061
Telephone: (08) 83735755
Fax: (08) 883735791
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Created 17 March 1997
Last updated 5 April 1999 by Mark Stevens
Send website comments to mstevens@camtech.net.au