Cervical Cancer: Screening Policies, Procedures, and Practices

What to know

The screening policies, procedures, and practices within health facilities focus area includes tools and resources to assess the status of cancer screening, make cancer screening a priority, reduce structural barriers, and use data to identify patients due for screening and opportunities to improve cancer screening rates within a clinical setting or system.

A healthcare professional talking to her patient.

Introduction

This page is part of the Cervical Cancer Screening Change Package.

You've selected a focus area. Next, select a change concept.
Instructions to navigate this page.

Change concepts are "general notions that are useful for developing more specific strategies for changing a process."1 Change ideas are evidence-based or practice-based "actionable, specific ideas or strategies."1 Each change idea is linked to tools and resources that can be used or adapted to improve cancer screening.

Note: See a list of acronyms used in this change package.

Select a change concept:

Change concept: Make cancer screening a priority.

Change concept: Implement population management strategies for all eligible patients.

Change concept: Establish standard operating procedures for screening.

Change concept: Use risk assessment tools and follow-up.

Change concept: Practice patient education, communication, and shared decision making.

Change concept: Implement patient and provider reminder systems.

Change concept: Reduce structural barriers in the health care setting.

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tobacco Cessation Change Package. US Department of Health and Human Services; 2019.
  • This resource may contain some information that does not reflect the current US Preventive Services Task Force recommendations for cervical cancer screening.
  • Indicates a patient resource.