The Oncology Data Services department is a required component of any successful Commission on Cancer approved program. We have been accessioning, abstracting, and conducting follow-up of reportable primaries either diagnosed and/or initially treated at Unity Hospital since 1981. We have over 24,000 patients in our database. Follow-up information is obtained at least annually for all living patients. More than 10,000 patients are currently under active follow-up.
We do mandatory electronic reporting (by law) of all of our cases to the Minnesota Cancer Surveillance System, a population-based registry that monitors incidence of cancer in Minnesota. We also voluntarily participate in the annual call for data to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), a nationwide oncology outcomes database used as a clinical surveillance mechanism to monitor changes and variations in patterns cancer care and patient outcomes. The NCDB also provides our hospital's cancer program with useful benchmarks for patient care and continuous quality improvement.
Our staff is comprised of four very qualified people: three Certified Tumor Registrars (CTRs) who do reporting, data analysis, casefinding, and abstracting along with one administrative assistant who conducts our patient follow-up and other clerical support (pictured above: Diane Ling, Michele Czapski, Jane Siekkinen, and Gwen Sandmon).
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