Hey—these instructions are in Korean!

Have you ever bought something that you need to assemble, then found the instruction booklet was some weirdly skimpy diagram that didn't look anything like the parts before you--and the instructions were all in a foreign language? That's how I felt when I tried to find out what cancer registry was and how to get into it. Based on a couple comments here and there I was intrigued, but even my Google skills weren't proving to be of much use. So where to begin? I'll tell you what I did, and perhaps save you some time.

First hit, of course, was the National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA). Upon hitting the "education" tab at the top, I was taken to a page with a dizzying amount of information--most of which pertained to mentorships, ongoing education, workshops, and things that didn't really seem to pertain to me. Aha--there was one little link in the midst of that to take you to a page to find certified tumor registrar (CTR) courses. I figured this would make it easy, just find a school nearby and figure out how to enroll, right?

Oops. Not quite so simple. In looking at all the traditional (i.e. on-campus) options, it's not like there's something available around the corner--unless you live in one of the five places that offer a course. Well, fine--I'm better-suited to online learning anyway. I work a graveyard shift and don't mesh well with a 9 to 5 world. There are probably tons more courses offered online anyway, right?

Wrong. Counting both degree and certificate programs, there are only about 7 offerings online, as well. Stranger yet, it looked like there were more offerings through vo-tech schools than actual colleges. I spent days poring over their websites, playing with their classroom interface demos, and crunching the numbers. If you're lucky enough to live in a place that has a course offered, the cost is actually really reasonable (as low as about $600 for the course at your local vo-tech, or free in some states if you're a high school student). Enroll from out of state, however, and you lose that resident tuition and are talking about $2,000 more. Argh. I've been trying to figure out where to move for years and actually pondered if it was worth that difference to go back to IA (family beckons, winter weather does not) or venture into parts unknown (I've actually considered NC, being the traditional retreat for Floridians escaping the heat and tourists). Well, that's silly. It seemed that the AHIMA course was the most affordable, and AHIMA is a logical choice for healthcare education and has a good reputation, right?

Otherwise, I saw a link to SEER and a self-study course. You mean I could study and just take the test myself? I downloaded all the PDFs and it only fueled my belief I could do this job. I went through about a dozen exercises in abstracting and got more excited. Once I got over my transcriptionist's mindset where everything seems important and started getting a handle on what a registrar is really focused on, it all made so much sense. Still, having been burned on the no-instructor school of medical transcription, I knew full well that a simple self-study course would not suffice. I wanted a real instructor to answer my questions if I got stuck, not just a student forum where the blind lead the blind. I wanted structure. I wanted to be forced to immerse myself in every detail so that in the end I would never question whether I knew what I was doing, whether there were gaps in my education, and never have to wonder if that certificate at the end that would truly mean something to potential employers. I could see that some kind of internship would be necessary before testing for the actual credential, but beyond that, I still felt in the dark.

I decided at this point to contact the NCRA to enquire about what membership actually would offer me. I obviously need a mentor and yes, that's one of the benefits they list--but there was still a lot of grey area. I found no forums to ask existing CTRs for course recommendations or other clues as to how to proceed. It didn't seem that I could join NCRA at any level (national or state) until I was actually a student, so that was a dead end. I scoured Usenet for newsgroups pertaining to CTR and found nothing. I found only one message board for CTR and that also seemed to be private and for existing registrars. What's a newbie to do? Sadly, I messaged both the NCRA and the FL chapter and neither membership contact deigned to grace me with a reply. There seems to be a grave disconnect there, perhaps not understanding how crucial the Internet is to their viability. Everywhere I look, I see how the world is "desperate for CTRs," but no one seems to have a firm grasp on how to entice new recruits and get them trained!

That's when I stumbled upon Linda Wilhoute's blog here at Advance and subsequently, the forums. I asked for an opinion on courses and general encouragement, and received a couple of excellent replies that assured me as long as I chose an accredited course, completed an internship, and obtained my CTR credential, that's all employers would care about. This was contrary to my experience as an MT, wherein graduates of M-TEC and Andrews medical transcription courses are looked upon so favorably that they can pretty much pick and choose their jobs because the courses have such a great track record for turning out grads who can jump right into the deep end in the production-based world of MT. In contrast, cancer registry seems to either be too new for matchbook schools to find a toehold or else the restrictions are simply too well-planned in advance for them to even be an issue. Hooray--more evidence I've chosen a great field to get into and a feeling that any course accredited by NCRA would probably be a good choice. 

That solidified the decision for me. I went 'round and 'round the AHIMA site and decided to take the plunge. It seemed a bonus to me that I could pay for each module as I went, rather than having to cough up full tuition and books at once. Credit card in hand, I headed to the prerequisite courses and signed up for the first: Anatomy and Physiology. Hey--I love this stuff and use it all the time as an MT, so it should be a breeze, right? Heh. Well, that's a whole 'nuther story. Suffice to say I'm happy to be a co-ed once again, even though I'm still a little apprehensive about whether I've assembled my kit entirely per the instructions.