Abstract
With the advent of the Papanicolaou (Pap) test in 1945, mortality from cervical carcinoma declined more than 70%. An annual Pap smear was the recommended guideline for many years. But new guidelines recently released by the USPSTF recommend far less screening for various subgroups of women. In this first part of this two-part series, read about the implications of the new guidelines. The second part presents a primer for APs to critically evaluate guidelines.
