In 2003 after
four years of coding, Bridget Tarbell assumed responsibility for
the registry at Rutland Regional Medical Center (RRMC). The
center had already purchased IMPAC’s Précis registry system but
had not yet put it to use. “I was lucky,” says Tarbell. “The
state registrar visited for a few days to give me some basic
information about registry reporting requirements. A month
later, I completed Précis’s online course and then worked
one-on-one with the IMPAC instructor who walked me through
everything and answered all my questions during three days of
two-hour teleconferences.”
Customizing Reports
Being
able to take immediate advantage of Précis’s capabilities was
critical: Tarbell had less than a year to clear up a two-year
reporting backlog that placed RRMC accreditation at risk. “Our
state does not accept paper records,“ explains Tarbell, “but
Précis was great. It’s very user friendly and cut down time for
abstracting and running reports. And its support staff were
wonderful about solving problems—not only software problems, but
ones stemming from my lack of experience.” Registry was caught
up by the spring of 2004 and RRMC passed its survey that fall.
“It was important that hospital accreditation was never lost,”
observes Tarbell, “but even more important was that our
information was correct. Since you can choose almost any field
in the database to customize reports, we could easily run the
reports needed by the surveyor.”
Linking Radiation and Registry
Software
With
accreditation won and the registry caught up, Tarbell
volunteered to have RRMC serve as a beta site for IMPAC’s
Multi-ACCESS Connect®, a data integration tool designed to
import demographic, tumor, and staging data from IMPAC’s
electronic medical record (EMR) designed for oncology into the
Précis cancer registry system. Thus far, oncologists have
entered data into each patient’s oncology EMR, which Tarbelll
has reviewed for downloading to Précis. “This check allows me to
match up cases to avoid duplication. But for new cases using
Multi-ACCESS Connect, I simply click Accept New Case and
all information is automatically entered into Précis.”
Multi-ACCESS Connect not only eliminates redundant data entry
and automates case finding and follow-up but also decreases
transcription errors, which improves data quality and enhances
reporting capabilities.
Building Confidence
After
the registry had been backlogged for so long, Tarbell, who
earned certification in the spring of 2004, has been proactive
in forging relationships among various RRMC departments.
“Registry information can be very useful.” she notes. Within the
cancer center, she can compare the number of cases per year, by
site, and treatment at RRMC versus treatment elsewhere. Many
surgeons request information about how many breast cases they’ve
had, and Tarbell can pull specifics about size and stage of
tumor and post-surgical treatments and compare RRMC recurrence
and mortality rates with those of other hospitals. According to
Tarbell, “Since we began using Précis,
oncologists have become more confident in the accuracy of
registry information.” |
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