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Written By: Melissa Chapman RHIT, CTR I was invited to submit an abstract for the 49th Annual NCRA Educational Conference, which was held May 7-10, 2023, in San Diego, CA. “Abstracting difficult sites” was one of the many abstract subjects requested. Therefore, the...

Often during process improvement projects the team members become private investigators looking at the details, analyzing data, finding clues, and solving problems. This year at Registry Partners we developed a virtual escape room game so that all of our employees...

It’s an interesting concept, keep your certification(s) you worked so hard for, which you don’t really utilize, and find a way to make it worthwhile and cost worthy to keep it. In my case, I worked so hard to obtain the RHIT (Registered Health Information Technician)...

As we are gearing up to end the first quarter of 2023, responsibilities and deadlines are undoubtedly at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Everyone is feeling rushed, focused, and committed to putting their best foot forward to start the next quarter. As such, we may...

Each year the Georgia Tumor Registrars Association (GATR) has the Debra Fortier Memorial Scholarship. Participants are to write a 300-500 word article. This year the topic was "Mentoring has become an important part of the cancer registry profession. Have you ever had...

The Oncology CTR Internship Program celebrated its 2nd year in February, yielding remarkable success to date. The CTR Internship Program has 3 main objectives: Help newly certified CTRs gain experience Build confidence and proficiency in case abstraction Become...

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is a medical emergency that happens when the heart suddenly stops beating. Without quick action to revive the heart, a person can die in minutes. Recent data indicates that SCA claims a life every 90 seconds.  An out-of-hospital cardiac...

Cancer registrars are highly trained data specialists that capture a complete history, diagnosis, and treatment for every cancer patient. The data collected is valuable for research on prevention, screening, treatment, and overall survival for patients. According to...

Recent news has emerged on what looks to be a promising therapy for increasing outcomes and survival in patients with advanced stage melanoma: TIL (Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte) Therapy.  Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes are immune cells (made up of both B and T...

How to plan and prepare for weight loss surgery. It's that time of year when millions of people make changes to better their health. For many, those changes include bariatric surgery. According to The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), there...

According to the National Safety Council, 60,714 weather events resulted in 585 deaths and 1,708 injuries in 2020. This winter, many others will deal with weather-related traumatic injuries. Traumatic injuries require immediate medical attention and result from sudden...

February is American Heart Month and as Registry Partners Cardiac and Get With the Guidelines Client representative I wanted to highlight a few ways to care for your Heart. As we think about how we can care for our hearts and reduce our stress levels, here are a few...

As we embark on the new year we tend to focus on new or renewed goals. From health and fitness to personal and career aspirations, we sometimes overlook the ‘not-so-obvious’ concerns that could be missed. While the thyroid might be a smaller gland, the issues that...

Nineteen years ago, I found myself in a position that I would never have imagined before that day. The company I worked for filed for bankruptcy and I was forced to search for a new job. At the same time, my parents-in-law had just moved in with my family due to...

Healthcare Quality Week is about celebrating professionals improving healthcare quality and what better way to celebrate than to play a game for a chance at a prize. The game below, conducted remotely, helped us to see how instructions, perceived to be clear and...

Recently, the demand for remote work has been higher than ever. While some employees thrive immediately in a remote environment, others may struggle with the self-motivation and change in structure while working from home. Therefore, it’s essential to properly plan...

Unintentional injuries (accidents) are the leading cause of death in children in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 12,000 children ages 0-19 years old die each year in the US from an unintentional injury....

Although we are very familiar with the work of CTRs here at Registry Partners, we recognize that not everyone understands what a Certified Tumor Registrar does on a daily basis! So, we were thrilled when OwlGuru.com asked our Quality Manager (and CTR) Jennifer Brown...

Peripheral arterial disease is a relatively common disease found in older Americans, affecting 1 in 20 Americans aged 50 years and older. PAD occurs when fat and cholesterol circulating in the blood, collect on the walls of your arteries. These fats and cholesterols...

Hurricane Ida devastated many parts of the United States and hit home for some of our Registry Partners team members.  Becky White, Senior Vice President for our Pediatric Service Line, a Registry Partners employee of 5 years, details her experience not just with Ida,...

As noted in the previous blog, Process Improvement-What makes a good business GREAT!, process improvement is the action of enhancing processes to reach a better outcome. To perform those “actions,” one needs tools, and there are many to choose from. I, Stacy Gehm RN,...

This month’s registry spotlight is on the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR).  Registry Partners’ Pediatric Service Line assists facilities and institutions nationwide with their CIBMTR data collection efforts. We serve as a...

There are around 300,000 children in the US with some form of arthritis. Many people think of arthritis as an adult or elderly condition. July has been named Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month with the goal of raising awareness that kids can have arthritis too.  The...

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) has released a new bariatric surgical risk/benefit calculator tool for metabolic and bariatric surgeons to begin using to help guide surgical decision making when patients are seeking weight loss surgery to improve health by...

In the US alone, according to the American Cancer Society, there are roughly 17 million cancer survivors and it’s estimated to grow to over 22.1 million by 2030. The month of June is designated as National Cancer Survivor Month, and with numbers climbing annually,...

June is Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month, and according to the Alzheimer’s Association, there are 50 million people worldwide who are living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, which is an overall term...

May is Women’s Health Month and many organizations join the cause to empower women and girls to make their health a priority! The CDC encourages women to talk with their healthcare providers, focus on a well-balanced diet, get active, prioritize their mental health,...

The answer to that question is YES! – Of course, you can still work! We tend to slam on the breaks when technology takes a halt, but no need! Keep motoring! If you experience downtime due to registry software issues, you can continue to remain productive, just in...

April 1st marks the beginning of Autism Acceptance Month. This year brings a shift from the commonly used phrase “Autism Awareness Month” to “Autism Acceptance Month.” in an effort to build a more inclusive society. The month is dedicated to promoting autism...

Sleep Awareness Week runs this year from March 14-20, 2021, and spotlights the importance of sleep in our daily lives and encourages everyone to learn about habits, practices, and routines that improve our sleep quality and overall health. Sleep is one of the most...

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is once again sponsoring its annual Patient Safety Awareness Week from March 14-20, 2021. During this week, everyone is encouraged to learn more about healthcare safety and take action to improve the safety of the...

The theme for this year’s National Nutrition Month® is Personalise Your Plate. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition and health. This month of awareness allows us time to re-think what choices we are making with both our eating habits and our activity...

Every March we raise awareness about Colorectal Cancer – below is a quiz to test your knowledge about colorectal cancer. Hopefully, you will learn something new as you work your way through the questions. For more information about colorectal cancer awareness – please...

February 7-14, 2021 is Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) Awareness Week. A CHD is a problem within the structure of the heart that is present at birth. There are many different types of CHDs, and they can vary from mild, such as a small hole in the heart, to severe, such...

Thursday, February 4th is World Cancer Day and the month of February has been named National Cancer Prevention Month. According to worldcancerday.org  "I Am and I Will” is the main theme for their 3-year campaign and this year is more important than ever to see...

January is National Blood Donor Month - when was the last time you donated? According to the Red Cross, 1 blood donation can help save up to 3 lives and can take as little as 8 – 10 minutes. The most common reasons people need blood transfusions are due to blood loss...

After indulging ourselves with great food and special treats during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, we find ourselves tipping the scale a bit come January. As much as we all enjoy the good eats and amazing treats, it is important to cut back once the New Year...

Birth defects are structural changes that a baby is born with that can affect almost any part of the body, changing how the body looks, works, or both. They can be found before birth, at birth, or any time after birth. Most birth defects occur during the first 3...

My husband recently had an MRI to assess neck pain and was puzzled by the results, which noted cervical stenosis. “Is this a mistake?” he asked me; “I don’t have a cervix?” For those of us who do, January is Cervical Health Awareness Month, and a propitious time to...

Deannah Carmody, Quality Analyst for Registry Partners, celebrated her 5-Year Anniversary on September 22, 2020. Deannah said “it felt great to reach 5 years of service even though it doesn’t feel like 5 years!”  Deannah believes her longevity with Registry Partners...

Hospitals and health networks across the United States regularly devote a substantial amount of resources to the management of health care registries. With the intense focus on value-based care that is tied to reimbursement and the drive to follow best practices to...

In comparison to adult cancers, childhood cancers are somewhat rare. About 1 out of every 285 children in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer before their 20th birthday. Despite being somewhat rare, childhood cancers are devastating for many families. 20%...

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost 1 out of every 5 (19%) children and adolescents aged 2-19 years old are obese. Body mass index (BMI) is a measure used to determine if a person is overweight or obese. It is calculated using a...

We conducted a live and non-live trivia on Monday, August 24th, and Tuesday, August 25th. Each day covered 12 questions about the history of Registry Partners! Thank you to all those who participated! By playing the trivia, each person was entered to win a random...

A newborn baby cannot tell the difference between two objects until 3 months of age. It is not until 5 months of age that a baby develops color vision. Throughout childhood, the vision continues to develop. Babies will move on to judging distance, developing hand-eye...

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), immunization is the process by which a person is made immune or resistant to an infectious disease, typically by the administration of a vaccine. For most vaccines, a weakened form of the disease germ is injected into...

Group B Streptococcus (group B strep or GBS) is a type of bacteria that is naturally found in many people’s gastrointestinal and genital tracts. Anyone can carry GBS and having it does not mean someone is sick or unclean. Most of the time GBS bacteria are not harmful,...

We are a little over half-way through 2020 and so far it’s been a doozy of a year with the ongoing global pandemic, mass protests, a dust storm, politics as usual and so much more. Hopefully, you’ve managed to find some sort of calm amongst the chaos in the world....

Cord blood is found in the blood vessels of the placenta and umbilical cord of a mother and baby. Oftentimes, cord blood is discarded as medical waste following a delivery. Many mothers are not aware of other possibilities for cord blood and its potential to treat...

Throughout last week on our Facebook page, we conducted a poll for Cancer Registrars with 2 new questions each day, Monday-Friday. At the end of each day, we randomly selected a winner to receive a $10 Starbucks gift card, and if you answered all 5 days of questions...

Worldwide, more than 300,000 babies are born with sickle cell disease each year. It is the most common inherited blood disorder in the United States, affecting around 100,000 people nationwide. June 19th has been designated as World Sickle Cell Day with the goal of...

Do you love data, statistics, and the Cancer Registry field? As a dedicated registry management, consulting, and abstraction company we are interested and excited to learn more about your personal interest in the Cancer Registry field. We would love to hear your...

According to the National Cancer Survivors Day® website, NCSD is an annual celebration that is recognized in many communities across our nation and across the world. The purpose of this special event is to bring thousands of people “together” to honor cancer survivors...

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common virus that can infect people of all ages. Over half of adults by age 40 have been infected with CMV. A healthy person’s immune system will usually keep the virus from causing illness, and most people infected with CMV show no signs or...

It is a time to recognize how cancer research has taught and guided us with respect to risk factors, screenings, stage of the disease, recurrence, survival rates, and treatment guidelines including treatments using the body’s own immune system.  Research is described...

According to The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, approximately 32 million people in the United States have food allergies, and 5.6 million of those affected are children. Allergies are most common in young children. Children with food allergies are also 2-4...

In the United States, 1 out of every 33 babies is born with some form of a birth defect, which is a structural change present at birth that can affect almost any part of the body. Birth defects occur when the baby is developing in the womb. They can cause problems in...

Each year, National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day seeks to raise awareness of the importance of children’s mental health and show that positive mental health is an essential part of a child’s healthy development. According to the Centers for Disease Control...

National Nurses Week is celebrated every year beginning on May 6 and ending on May 12. However, this year, the American Nurses Association has expanded the recognition to the entire month of May. The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated 2020 as the “Year of...

As we prepare for warmer weather and fun in the sun, let us not lose sight of proper skin protection. Regardless of our age, sex, or race, we all need to be mindful of sun exposure and sun safety and understand how to prevent and detect skin cancer. How often should...