The Biggest Barrier is Your Mindset

The biggest barrier is not technology.
It’s your mindset.

For decades, registrars were taught to abstract retrospectively. Concurrent abstracting challenges that tradition, asking cancer registrars to work in phases, embrace automation, and to continuously update the cases in real time. And the resistance is real. Psychologists call it cognitive inertia: the brain’s bias toward familiar routines, even when those routines slow us down. This was discussed in a Harvard Business Review (HBR) brief that noted human understanding of AI and new processes do not always translate into acceptance—people often rely on intuitive impressions and habits that keep them anchored in the old model (Longoni, Appel, & Tully, HBR, 2025).

Neuroscience, however, shows that mindsets can change. Through neuroplasticity, the brain is able to rewire itself with repeated patterns and feedback loops. In other words, cancer registrars can adapt to new workflows—if the environment supports it. Another HBR study emphasizes that adoption succeeds when end users approach change with a “beginner’s mindset”—curiosity, openness, and willingness to experiment—especially when the organization provides psychological safety and clear personal value (Carter, Afton, & Kelley, HBR, 2024).

For cancer programs, this means tackling the human side of concurrent abstracting as deliberately as the technical side. Leaders must acknowledge fear of “losing control” to automation, communicate a clear strategy, provide hands-on training, and celebrate early wins. Peer mentoring, transparent communication, and phased implementation all build confidence.

Cancer registrars who make the shift do not lose control—they gain influence. They move away from being data clerks of the past to curators of real-time data quality, shaping decisions that impact care today.

Are you clinging to comfortable, traditional habits—or rewiring your mindset to lead a quality-focused, data-driven registry of the future?

＼ Get the latest news ／