Establish a Student Internship Program to Recruit Cancer Registrars

The lack of qualified cancer registrars in Arizona posed a challenge. With many registrars at the state registry approaching retirement, attention was needed to identify and train the next generation of registrars to ensure continued high-quality data collection. As a group, Health Information Management (HIM) students present a pool of worthy candidates for cancer registry work. A plan to encourage these students to join the profession and train them on core cancer registry concepts was needed. Learn how the Arizona Cancer Registry designed and implemented an HIM student internship program. Michelle Lenzen, BA, RHIT, CTR, Quality Assurance Manager for the Arizona Cancer Registry, will highlight the state registry’s efforts and share lessons learned and best practices.