What role do cancer registrars play in medical informatics? The cancer registrar plays a critical role in collecting, classifying and coding medical information needed to study and develop treatments that will improve patient care outcomes in our short- and long-term future. Data is quickly aggregated as the registrar enters the information into a highly specialized, automated information management system which is, arguably, the most sophisticated and well-defined database within a hospital or geographic area that can be used for cancer medical informatics.
Recently, the National Cancer Registrar’s Association (NCRA) publication, “Medical Informatic Basics for the Cancer Registry,” defines this as: “Medical informatics is the intersection of science, computer science and health care. It deals with the resources, devices and methods required to optimize the acquisition, storage, retrieval and use of information in health and biomedicine. Health informatic tools include not only computers but also clinical guidelines, formal medical terminologies and information and communication systems.”
With the economic downturn and ongoing budget crunches, cancer registrars might be concerned about their future. However, nothing could be further from the truth! Their future is secure and their involvement in medical informatics, quality control, performance improvement and the study of outcomes is more critical now than ever before. Certified cancer registrars (or CTRs) are, and always will be, in high demand and needed for their skills in collecting, classifying and coding information for end results analysis. The required skill sets, resource and technology requirements for development of a nationwide program to effectively use medical informatics was outlined by President George W. Bush’s Executive Order in the Incentives for the Use of Health Information Technology and Establishing the Position of the National Health Information Technology Coordinator on April 27, 2004. This and other plans for combating cancer were discussed in “The Obama-Biden Plan to Combat Cancer” also published by The White House in 2010.
Ultimately, the efforts by cancer registrars at local, regional, state and national levels, combined with government and private industry agencies will enable a system of sophisticated analysis and application of medical informatics via the cancer registrar and their data management systems. It is clear that the cancer registrar will play a critical role by partnering with the major public and private health entitites in the United States to develop more effective treatments, effectively analyze patient care outcomes and find a cure for cancer as quickly as possible.
Cancer Registrar training is the cornerstone to Michele Webb’s website, http://www.RegistryMindset.com. Michele is a 25+ year veteran certified Cancer Registrar who is committed to Cancer Registry leadership and professional education as a coach, mentor, motivational speaker and author. You have permission to repost this article as long as do not alter it in any way and give a link back and credit to the author on this website.
