Curation Elevates Registry Data
Cancer case abstracting captures.Curation transforms. Traditional abstracting has primarily focused on a minimum set of reporting requirements for the State or accreditation program. While necessary, this transactional approach produces retrospective and limited information–data that satisfies mandates but falls short of what is needed for today’s healthcare decision-making needs. Curating takes the same incoming ata and […]
Data Curation Changes Everything
Cancer case abstracting is evolving.Curating the data makes it meaningful. For decades, cancer registrars were trained in manual abstracting—retrospectively reviewing charts, searching, reading, and typing every detail, and finalizing cases months after treatment ended. The role was often defined by data entry rather than data impact. Data curation changes everything. To curate is to select, […]
Concurrent Data Saves Lives
Cancer Registry data after-the-fact is history.Concurrent data saves lives. A common misperception is that cancer registry data is “only for reporting compliance.” If it is collected months later or manually abstracted, that is often true – it is too outdated to be informative or useful. Perception: “Cancer Registry data is just for state or accreditation […]
Concurrent Abstracting Produces Less Errors
Manual abstracting does not equal control.Curating data does. Some cancer registrars resist AI-automation of abstracting data because they believe manual work equals accuracy and quality. They fear that letting AI assistance will reduce their role or compromise accuracy. False Perception: “Manual abstracting equals control.” In fact, the opposite is true. Manual abstraction often chains cancer […]
Keep Registry Data Clean in Real-Time
The longer you wait, the more you miss.Concurrent abstracting keeps data clean. Many cancer registrars argue that waiting until treatment ends ensures completeness and accuracy. But when months pass, records are harder to locate, the volume of data to review is greater, more details are missed or entered incorrectly, and errors go unnoticed. False perception: […]
Intelligent Abstraction = Efficiency & ROI
Is abstracting 4+ months after diagnosis efficient?Research says it is not! A common objection to concurrent abstracting is that updating a case multiple times takes more time and effort. Today, many cancer registrars still believe touching a case more than once is wasted time. False Perception: “Updating cases in phases takes longer than abstracting once […]
Efficiency Comes in Phases
Abstracting efficiency does not come retrospectively.Efficiency comes in phases and moves with the patient. For decades, cancer registrars have been trained to abstract retrospectively—waiting until treatment was complete to build a complete case in a single abstracting session. Despite increasing pressure from physicians and administrators to provide real-time information, cancer registries have continued to hold […]
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, […]