I'm in the process of trying to identify a title for the Cancer
Registry and the positions held within it that is in line with the
national trend.

I think that we're all in the same boat when it comes to not being
able to compare one facility or registry to the next because our
titles differ nationwide.

The definition of a registrar from the American Heritage Dictionary
is:

NOUN: 1. One who is in charge of official records. 2. An officer in
a college or university who keeps the records of enrollment and
academic standing. 3. An officer of a corporation responsible for
maintaining records of ownership of its securities. 4. An admitting
officer in a hospital.

I think that our role is so much more than this definition but will
have difficulty in convincing our HR department in changing the
titles if I can't provide any backing on the local, state or
national level.

Our Health Record Services department just changed their name to
Health Information Management. I think that Cancer Data Management
or Cancer Information Management would be more appropriate with our
role but having the title of Cancer Registrar changed to Cancer Data
Manager becomes a problem because HR relates the word "manager" with
somebody who supervises employees and not just data.

I'm sure that other registrars would benefit from a discussion about
this particular issue. The educational requirements necessary to be
a CTR also hinders some of the changes that we need in our registry
to be able to compete with other positions in the hospital that
require so much less than what we're responsible for. Any help that
you all can offer would be so appreciated!!!

Thank you in advance for sharing!
Charla Carter, CTR
Cincinnat, OH