Cancer registrars are vital to cancer surveillance -- the work includes collecting, coding, reporting, and curating national cancer data that are used to create national statistical data about cancer epidemiology and treatment.

However, cancer registrars are often considered a nonrevenue-producing role within hospitals, and registry managers have reported struggling to justify adequate staffing needs. Research from Healthforce Center’s Jackie Miller, Laurie Hailer, and Susan Chapman aimed to update staffing guidelines by using a survey and data collection method to quantify the time spent on registrar tasks and conducting analyses that develop a staffing model. These types of studies are useful in assessing workload and staffing needs of other professions that are not well understood or do not have quantified staffing models.

An executive summary from the research funder National Cancer Registrars Association synthesizes the data into clear takeaways about the tasks, time, skills, and workforce for registries, and offers recommendations on hospital staffing and the future of the profession.