Planning is necessary to ensure that
hospital or institution-based registry staffing meets
the requirements of the Commission on Cancer ( CoC)
of the American College of Surgeons, and population-based
registries meet the requirements of their funding agencies.
Several factors affect registry staffing, including
yearly caseload, data usage, longevity of the database,
and managerial and administrative responsibilities,
computerization, and cancer program
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functions. Institutions may hire part time or full time staff
or consultants to perform registry and/or cancer program functions.
The hours of cancer registry operations may vary. However, staff
should be available during normal business hours to accommodate
study requests from medical research and administrative staff.
Staffing hours may also vary in order to facilitate follow-up
calls to patients, outside institutions, or physician's offices.
Methods for task distribution vary from registry to registry.
The possibility of distributing and sharing responsibilities
is greater in larger registries. Some registries delegate
specific responsibilities to each staff member, whereas others
distribute all responsibilities equally among all staff members.
Abstracting responsibilities might be distributed by cancer
site or alphabet. For example, a particular staff member may
be responsible for abstracting and following all patients
with breast cancer whose last names start with the letters
A through D, and so on. Varying staff or their responsibilities
allows the supervisor to achieve goals while providing staff
with the opportunity to expand their knowledge and skills.
Once data collection begins, continuous monitoring is necessary
to ensure compliance with CoC and other agencies. For example,
abstracting should be initiated between four and six months
after diagnosis and the follow-up percentage must be maintained
at required rates. When backlogs occur, rearranging responsibilities
to meet deadlines may be necessary. The development of productivity
standards will assist in maintaining compliance.
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