Berger B M
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Harvard Community Health Plan, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
Acta Cytol. 1996 Jan-Feb;40(1):97-106. doi: 10.1159/000333590.
To evaluate the suitability of the Pathfinder (CompuCyte Corp., Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.), an innovative instrument for monitoring the mechanical aspects of cytology screening, as a training aid and workstation component for cytotechnologists for daily work flow in a large cytology laboratory.
The impact of the implementation of the Pathfinder was assessed by comparing the performance of a group of senior cytotechnologists with the Pathfinder features enabled (displayed) and disabled (not displayed). When enabled, statistical parameters, including the percentage of screenable slide surface viewed, the amount of time spent viewing the slide and the percentage of overlap of the fields of view, were continuously displayed to the cytotechnologist on a small, dedicated video display terminal. Areas of the slide requiring additional review by the pathologist were indicated by a series of electronic icons placed by the cytotechnologists.
The Pathfinder was found to provide critical insight into the variability that exists among cytotechnologists in their approach to screening. By establishing laboratory performance criteria for the aforementioned parameters, variability in performance could be reduced immediately.
The continuous feedback provided by the Pathfinder to the cytotechnologist during the actual screening process could help to diminish false negative cervical cytologic smear evaluations due to correctable unsuspected errors in the practice of screening.
评估Pathfinder（美国马萨诸塞州剑桥市CompuCyte公司生产）这一用于监测细胞学筛查机械方面的创新仪器，作为大型细胞学实验室中细胞技术人员日常工作流程的培训辅助工具和工作站组件的适用性。
通过比较一组启用（显示）和禁用（不显示）Pathfinder功能的资深细胞技术人员的表现，评估Pathfinder实施的影响。启用时，包括可筛查玻片表面查看百分比、查看玻片花费的时间以及视野重叠百分比等统计参数会在一个小型专用视频显示终端上持续显示给细胞技术人员。细胞技术人员放置的一系列电子图标会指示出玻片上需要病理学家进一步检查的区域。
发现Pathfinder能够深入洞察细胞技术人员在筛查方法上存在的差异。通过为上述参数制定实验室性能标准，可立即减少性能差异。
Pathfinder在实际筛查过程中向细胞技术人员提供的持续反馈，有助于减少因筛查实践中可纠正的未被察觉的错误导致的宫颈细胞学涂片假阴性评估。
