Encouraging Health Information Management Graduates to Pursue Cancer Registry Careers.

The cancer registry profession has grown dramatically since its inception in 1926. Certified tumor registrars (CTRs) have become an integral part of the cancer care team by providing quality cancer data for research, statistical purposes, public health, and cancer control. In addition, CTRs have been found to be valuable in other cancer and health-related fields. Based on the need for high-quality, accurate data, the National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA), the certification body for CTRs, has increased the educational requirement for eligibility for the CTR certification exam. This has resulted in fewer individuals who are able to meet the requirements for CTR certification. In addition, the existing cancer registry workforce is, on average, older than other allied health professions, and therefore will face an increasing number of retirements in the next few years. The high demand for CTRs, the decreased pool of CTR-eligible applicants, and the aging cancer registry workforce has resulted in an existing shortage that will only get worse as the population ages and the incidence of cancer increases. Health information management (HIM) students are well suited to pursuing further training in the cancer registry field and gaining the CTR credential. HIM students or new graduates have the needed skill set and education to pursue a cancer registry career. There are many avenues HIM educational programs can take to encourage students to pursue CTR certification and a cancer registry career. Including cancer registry functions in courses throughout the HIM curriculum, bringing in cancer registry speakers, encouraging networking, and promoting the cancer registry field and profession in general are just a few of the methods that HIM programs can use to raise awareness of and promote a cancer registry career to their students. Illinois State University has used these methods and has found them to be successful in encouraging a percentage of their graduates to pursue cancer registry careers.