Walter Kinney, MD
Cervical Cancer Screening
“The outcome measure that’s most meaningful to me is how well we do with keeping our members from getting cervical cancer — one of the very few preventable forms of cancer.”
For the past eight years, Dr. Kinney has been doing research aimed at improving the effectiveness of the cervical cancer screening program in Kaiser Permanente, Northern California, and influencing policy-makers and clinicians nationally and internationally. “One of the most rewarding things is the acceptance around the world that what we’ve pioneered here is desirable,” Dr. Kinney explains.
In 1996, he co-authored the first TPMG Clinical Practice Guidelines for cervical cancer screening, which dealt primarily with screening methods and intervals. And, based on research into the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in cervical cancer, the revised guideline, issued in 2001, includes recommendations for the use of HPV testing in clinical practice and as a follow-up to abnormal Pap smears.
Other research he participated in found that 83% of women who developed cervical caner and who hadn’t had a Pap smear in the preceding three years had been seen in a KP outpatient department at least once during that period of time. This provided an impetus for the creation of the Preventive Health Prompt to remind patients and physicians when it’s time for important health screenings, such as Pap smears, mammograms, and sigmoidoscopies.
For more information about Cervical Cancer Screening Clinical Practice Guidelines, visit the Clinical Library http://clinical-library.ca.kp.org