Much of what is known today about cancer comes from data collected, analyzed and disseminated by cancer registries. This information, which provides a complete summary of patient history, disease process, extent of disease, treatment and outcomes, is used not only by local, state and national cancer agencies to draw conclusions about the burden of cancer and to make important public health decisions to make the best use limited public health funds, but also by physicians, researchers and public health professionals to better understand cancer treatment and trends.
Here at Ochsner, our Cancer Registrars and Cancer Registry manage a vital component of our OCI Cancer Program. The Cancer Registry provides a system to monitor all cancer patients diagnosed and treated at OCF. Our Cancer Registrars assist our research efforts by responding to requests for data that monitor, improve and evaluate the quality of patient care and survival trends for our physicians, administrators and other health care professionals--all without compromising our patient’s privacy. The statistical data collected and compiled by our Cancer Registrars enables our medical staff to actually measure our patient outcomes against national treatment outcomes to determine success rates. Utilization of this data contributes to the effectiveness of the overall care provided to our cancer patients and their families.
Our Cancer Registry’s information and activities optimizes not only our cancer program’s research, planning & development; but also administrative planning and allocation of hospital resources which ensures the highest level of care provided by our OCI Cancer Program. Our dedicated Cancer Registrars hope their contribution to the understanding of cancer will lead to better treatments and ultimately, a cure.
