Continuing education for cytotechnologists: the Australian experience.

The development of a continuing education scheme for cytotechonologists in Australia is described. The process involved the establishment of a working party with Terms of Reference to review current practice in Australia and existing schemes in other parts of the world. The scheme developed takes the form of a continuing education diary that provides guidelines on the various forms of continuing education activity and corresponding credit points. The diary also provides for a record of activity to be kept. The scheme requires bi-annual submission of personal activity which is logged into a national database. A peer profile is provided and successful achievement is marked by the issue of a certificate of participation. The programme has achieved a 57% compliance in its first year of operation.