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World J Methodol. Jun 26, 2017; 7(2): 33-36
Published online Jun 26, 2017. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v7.i2.33
Synergetic role of integrating the departments of cancer registry and clinical research at an academic comprehensive cancer center
McKenzie Bedra, Tammy Vyskocil, Jennifer Emel, Crystal Edwards, Cherif Boutros
McKenzie Bedra, Tammy Vyskocil, Jennifer Emel, Crystal Edwards, Cherif Boutros, Tate Cancer Center, University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center, Glen Burnie, MD 21061, United States
Cherif Boutros, Department of Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, United States
Author contributions: Bedra M and Boutros C wrote the manuscript; Vyskocil T and Emel J abstracted the data that contributed to the findings; Edwards C and Boutros C designed and oversaw the project.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest to disclose for any of the authors.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Cherif Boutros, MD, MSc, FACS, Tate Cancer Center, University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center, 305 Hospital Drive Ste. 304, Glen Burnie, MD 21061, United States. cboutros@smail.umaryland.edu
Telephone: +1-410-5538146 Fax: +1-410-5538181
Received: January 28, 2017
Peer-review started: February 10, 2017
First decision: March 28, 2017
Revised: April 10, 2017
Accepted: May 3, 2017
Article in press: May 5, 2017
Published online: June 26, 2017
Processing time: 143 Days and 9.7 Hours
Abstract

Integration of the cancer registry and clinical research departments can have a significant impact on the accreditation process of a Commission on Cancer (CoC) Program. Here in we demonstrate that the integration of both departments will benefit as there is increased knowledge, manpower and crossover in job responsibilities in our CoC-accredited Academic Comprehensive Cancer Center. In our model this integration has led to a more successful cooperative interaction among departments, which has in turn created an enhanced combined effect on overall output and productivity. More manpower for the cancer registry has led to increased caseloads, decreased time from date of first contact to abstraction, quality of data submissions, and timely follow-up of all patients from our reference date for accurate survival analysis along with completeness of data. In 2016, our Annual Facility report showed an additional 163 cases over prediction by the state of Maryland Cancer Registry and a 39% increase in case completeness. As proof of the synergetic effectiveness of our model within one year of its implementation, the cancer center was able to apply for, and was awarded membership from Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, Central IRB, and in turn led to increased clinical trial accrual from 2.8% in 2014 compared to 13.2% currently. Our cancer registry in year one submitted over 150 more cases than predicted, improved quality outcome measures displayed by our Cancer Program Practice Profile reports and had more timely and complete data submissions to national and state registries. This synergetic integration has led to a better understanding, utilization and analysis of data by an integrated team with Clinical Research expertise.

Keywords: Cancer registry; Clinical research; Commission on Cancer; Synergetic integration; American College of Surgeons

Core tip: In the current era, the evolution of healthcare management has focused on limiting resources while increasing the value of healthcare delivery. As hospitals and health care organizations operate under tighter budgets year after year, the executive teams must prioritize and utilize the resources available in the optimal way to produce the best patient care with limited funding. Integrating the cancer registry and clinical research departments can have a significant impact on outcomes. Both departments benefit as there is increased knowledge, manpower and crossover in job responsibilities. This leads to increased caseloads, decreased time from date of first contact to abstraction, and quality and completeness of data.