Janet Raleigh, RHIA, CTR, has worked with Registry Partners, Incorporated since May 2009. She began her employment as a Project CTR and was promoted to Project Manager in April 2011. Janet has worked on a variety of projects consisting of state report only and accredited cancer program projects and has experience with facilities seeking their initial CoC accreditation. Janet is also a QC Manager. Janet performs weekly quality control reviews on all of her assigned projects. She provides guidance and support to the project CTRs in answering abstracting questions. Janet has been involved in project set up both as a QC Manager and a Project Manager. As a QC Manager, Janet is responsible for defining the abstracting parameters of new projects and providing project training.
She began her cancer registry career working for Saginaw General Hospital in Saginaw, Michigan as a Tumor Registrar where she started the facilities cancer registry and defined the cancer registry operations and pertinent cancer program activities. Later she accepted a position with St. Mary’s Medical Center, Seton Cancer Institute, in Saginaw, Michigan where she held the position of Cancer Registry Coordinator/Office Manager for eight years. Janet has an Associate of Applied Science degree in Health Information Technology and a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Information Management, both from Baker College in Michigan. She became certified as an RHIA in 1995 and as a CTR in 1997.
Janet resides in Millington, Michigan and has three children. Twin sons Justin and Kendrick age (13) and one daughter, Nicole age (10). In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with and watching her children play sports, flower gardening, biking, walking, baking, traveling and photography.
Q & A with Janet:
Q: How did you become interested in cancer registry?
A: During my final internship to conclude my bachelor’s degree program studies, I was approached by administration and asked if I would be interested to start the cancer registry and work to develop and meet the required standards of an accredited cancer program. I was very self-motived and through many hours of reading and colleague training opportunities, became knowledgeable and proficient in cancer registry operations, coding and management. I have continued to enjoy this career path as I am hopeful and look forward to the data collected through registry functions to help and improve the care and treatment of patients dealing with this disease.
Q: Have you used your knowledge of cancer diagnostics and treatment outside of work?
A: Family and friends that are aware of my profession do ask questions with regard to people they know that have been diagnosed with this disease. I listen to them and try to provide information in a way that is helpful, yet cautious. They appear to look to me for answers, that I cannot give, but I can always provide support and possibly resources for ways to investigate and find more information.
Q: Do you have any advice for someone considering working remotely?
A: My biggest piece of advice would be to always have good communication it is vital to being successful, along with having a motivated and conscientious work ethic to perform your job. Office setup? Work in surroundings that make you comfortable, allow yourself ample space to work to not feel crowded or get disorganized and not be able to find things.
Q: What are skills you feel are important for a cancer registrar to possess?
A: I feel vital skills to be successful as a registrar are to be detail oriented, to have very good technical comprehension, coding comprehension, investigational skills, and the ability to accept change and continue learning.