Private Nurse Practitioner Services
NP Megan Dunn
Cervical Cancer Screening with a Pap Test
A Pap test is the most common screening tool for detecting cell changes in the cervix that may lead to cancer, before people have symptoms. It is important that these cell changes are found and treated before they can cause cervical cancer.
Cervical cancer deaths are more frequent in areas of the world where cervical screening is not available. The dramatic decline since the 1980s in the rate at which Ontario women develop and die from cervical cancer is almost entirely due to screening.
Who Should have a Pap Test
The Ontario Cervical Screening Program recommends that anyone with a cervix (women, transmasculine and non-binary people) who is or ever has been sexually active (including intercourse and outercourse) have routine Pap testing. People who have had a hysterectomy should talk to their Doctor or Nurse Practitioner to see if they need to continue cervical screening.
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When to have a Pap Test
For eligible individuals, routine Pap testing is recommended every 3 years, starting at the age of 25 and up until the age of 70. You can stop regular screening with Pap tests at the age of 70 if you have had 3 or more normal tests in the previous 10 years.
Eligible people need to get cervical screening even if they are feeling healthy and have no symptoms, are no longer sexually active, have only had 1 sexual partner, are in a same-sex relationship, have been through menopause, have no family history of cervical cancer, or have received the HPV vaccine.
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What to Expect at your Appointment
Your Pap test will be done by the Nurse Practitioner. She will explain the procedure, show you the instruments that will be used, and answer any questions you have. No one looks forward to getting a pap, and for some women, it can be an anxiety producing experience. We recognize this and aim to ensure your comfort.
During the Pap test, the Nurse Practitioner will carefully insert a medical tool called a speculum into the vagina. The speculum allows the cervix to be visualized. The Nurse Practitioner will use a soft brush to take cells from the surface of the patient’s cervix so the lab can examine the cells under a microscope.
Once the sample has been processed by the lab, the results are sent directly to the Nurse Practitioner. If there are any abnormalities, the Nurse Practitioner will be able to advise the patient about next steps for follow-up care. If there are no abnormalities, routine screening can continue with a repeat test in 3 years.
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The above information has been sourced from Cancer Care Ontario.
For more information, visit: https://www.cancercareontario.ca/en