Image: Joy Mink, Registered Practical Nurse, and Natalie Watt, Registered Nurse, at their nurse-practitioner led clinic, Health Zone
January 24, 2025
In 2023, Dr. Robert DiCecco, Regional Lead for Cervical Screening at the South West Regional Cancer Program (SWRCP), along with his colleague Dr. Nathan Roth, Regional Lead for Cervical Screening – Central East, launched a cervical cancer educational workshop. This initiative aimed at empowering nurse practitioners (NPs), nurses and midwives in Ontario's southwest region to take a more active role in conducting cervical cancer screening within community clinics and family health teams. Community physicians have been encouraged to attend to learn about the new HPV test and refresh their education on current best practice.
SWRCP is one of 14 regional cancer programs in Ontario that oversee the quality and delivery of cancer care across the province. Each regional cancer program has a regional cancer centre, and the regional cancer centre for southwestern Ontario is London Health Sciences Centre’s Verspeeten Family Cancer Centre. Dr. DiCecco, the regional lead for cervical screening, primarily works at the Verspeeten but also collaborates with smaller centres throughout the region.
The goals of the workshop
The aim of the educational workshop is to increase access to cervical cancer screening and ultimately improve early detection rates. These workshops are part of a broader initiative to address screening gaps and to encourage more collaborative and comprehensive care in primary care settings, such as family physician practices.
One aspect of the workshops was HPV testing and its role in cervical cancer screening. In fact, HPV testing is set to replace the traditional pap smear as the primary method for cervical cancer screening in Ontario. Unlike the pap smear, which detects cell abnormalities, the HPV test identifies high-risk strains of human papillomavirus that can cause cervical cancer, offering greater accuracy and fewer false positives. As screening guidelines evolve, the adoption of HPV testing is expected to improve screening precision and reduce unnecessary procedures, ultimately benefiting patient outcomes.
Participant experience
For Joy Mink, Registered Practical Nurse at Health Zone in London, Ontario, the workshop was an invaluable opportunity to gain hands-on training before performing pap smears herself.
Eager to expand her knowledge and practice fully, she found the hands-on demonstrations and practice vital for building confidence and appreciated the supportive environment that eased the fear of making mistakes. "It’s a good way to train without worrying about hurting anyone. It really takes the nervousness away," Mink shares.
As guidelines and techniques evolve, so do best practices. “This workshop offered an opportunity to guide experienced nurses and physicians on current best practices, not just for those new to performing pap smears," Mink says.
Natalie Watt, Registered Nurse at Health Zone, appreciated the insight from facilitators with extensive experience in cervical cancer screening.
Both Joy and Natalie emphasized the importance of encouraging nurses in family health teams and clinics to perform pap smears, as it improves access to care and allows all providers to work to their full scope. This, in turn, increases screening capacity and frees up time for other healthcare providers to focus on their areas of expertise, reducing overall workload.
According to Watt, the most impactful aspect of the training was learning how to effectively communicate with patients. She hopes that improved communication will encourage more patients to participate in regular cervical cancer screenings in the future.
“Cervical cancer screening procedures are unique and should be approached through a trauma informed lens, which may mean extra time or appointments are required,” Watt says. “Having registered nurses and registered practical nurses completing routine pap tests allows for more flexibility with scheduling, increasing scope of practice and allowing primary care providers to attend to alternative appointments.”
Mink shares, “The goals of having every doctor and nurse in your clinic practicing to full scope, reducing the burden on other care providers and increasing access to care – these education workshops fall in line with that.”
The cervical cancer education workshops will continue to be offered across the southwest region in 2025.