title: How the Wisconsin Cancer Reporting System's Data Quality Task Force Started a Cancer Information Management Education Program to Improve Certified Tumor Registrar Recruitment in Wisconsin.
abstract: The role of the cancer registrar is essential in the effort to gather essential information on most types of cancer diagnosed or treated within a health care institution or within a defined population. These data are used to inform a variety of public health decisions and provide information for cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention programs. Effective January 1, 2015, all abstraction of medical records for cancer cases at Commission on Cancer (CoC)-accredited facilities must be performed by cancer registrars who have achieved the Certified Tumor Registrar (CTR) credential. There is a national shortage of CTRs; the National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA) registration directory, accessed in January 2013, listed just 70 CTRs for Wisconsin. Based on the average annual number of over 29,000 invasive, consolidated cancer cases in Wisconsin (diagnosed in 2006-2010), the average number of cases per CTR was 415, while the US average was 328 cases per CTR. Using this workload estimate, in comparison with other states, Wisconsin was burdened with the sixth highest caseload per CTR in the United States and the highest in the Midwest. Further, there were only 6 Wisconsin candidates for the NCRA CTR-certification exam in 2013.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Foote
mesh_terms: D026683:Advisory Committees; D002568:Certification / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D019451:Information Management / Q000193:education*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010560:Personnel Selection / Q000592:standards*; D012042:Registries / Q000592:standards*; D014922:Wisconsin / Q000453:epidemiology