[Education of cytotechnologists--are we satisfied with what we had, what we have, and what we want?].

Our aim is to present training of cytotechnologists in Croatia as it looked in the past, as it appears at present, and our desires, needs, and upcoming changes necessary in future education of cytotechnologists. Education in cytotechnology begins at the School of Health Technicians, where the first organized training of cytotechnologists was held in 1968/1969, thanks to the efforts invested by Professor Inga Crepinko. After a period of training in a six-month course, during the 1981-1992 period training took place in the form of a one-year program evaluated as education level V. Since then, efforts to establish education at all academic institutions in Croatia have failed. At Medical College, one-year training was introduced in 1993, however, for only one generation. Under the auspices of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Croatian Society of Clinical Cytology of the Croatian Medical Association, 5 one-year courses with 630 hours of theoretical classes with practical work and 200 hours of practical training in cytologic activities have been held since 2000. Now, we ask ourselves was there any reason for us to be satisfied in the past and is it there now. In Croatia, there is the need of optimized and standardized training of cytotechnologists at the university level, with a valid certificate in European countries and a curriculum that will meet the needs of new technologies (molecular techniques, LBC, HPV testing, etc.).