TxTRA ExTRA—Summer 2016 Summer 2016 IN THIS ISSUE President’s Corner Dee Moncada TxTRA President 2015-2016 President’s Corner Annual Business Meeng Noficaon Membership Update New CTR’s Educaon Commiee CTR Exam Scholarship Shelley Jordan Memorial Conference Scholarship Applicaon TCR Liaison NCRA Update TxTRA Annual Conference Officers & Commiee Members 2015-2016 Mission & Vision Bridging the Gap…. So many mes we wonder, what is my purpose for joining the Associaon, what is my role, who do I ask…what can I do? My goal this year was to get input from the membership to get soluons to those and other quesons above. There seems to be disconnecon with the Associaon and the Board which needs to be addressed. We get into our own world and forget there are many sources within the organizaon that we can ulize to reach out to others, not only for help, but for ideas, suggesons, and/or recommendaons. It’s that GAP that we have between us that we need to fill … so I am asking you, the Membership, to please take me to parcipate in the survey you will be receiving which will help us address some of your concerns. Be on the lookout for your chance to help us move forward this coming year and close some of those gaps. You will receive an e-mail link to the survey when it becomes available.
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TxTRA ExTRA—Summer 2016
Summer 2016
IN THIS ISSUE
President’s Corner Dee Moncada
TxTRA President 2015-2016
President’s Corner
Annual Business Meeting
Notification
Membership Update
New CTR’s
Education Committee
CTR Exam Scholarship
Shelley Jordan Memorial
Conference Scholarship
Application
TCR Liaison
NCRA Update
TxTRA Annual Conference
Officers & Committee
Members 2015-2016
Mission & Vision
Bridging the Gap….
So many times we wonder, what is my purpose for joining the Association, what is my role, who do I ask…what can I do?
My goal this year was to get input from the membership to get solutions to those and other questions above. There seems to be disconnection with the Association and the Board which needs to be addressed.
We get into our own world and forget there are many sources within the organization that we can utilize to reach out to others, not only for help, but for ideas, suggestions, and/or recommendations.
It’s that GAP that we have between us that we need to fill … so I am asking you, the Membership, to please take time to participate in the survey you will be receiving which will help us address some of your concerns. Be on the lookout for your chance to help us move forward this coming year and close some of those gaps. You will receive an e-mail link to the survey when it becomes available.
Annual Business Meeting Notification
Who: All members eligible to vote are asked to attend
When: Thursday, August 25, 2016, 7:00 a.m.
Where: Sheraton Hall Hotel Conference Center
400 North Olive Street
Dallas, TX 75201
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Dee Moncada at: [email protected].
Announcing AJCC Disease Sites Webinars The AJCC is proud to announce 5 disease site webinars this summer and early fall. The AJCC Disease Site webinars are designed to provide highlights of the five most common site chapters for AJCC 7th edition staging. The diseases featured are: Melanoma, Lung, Breast, Colorectum, and Prostate. There will be pre- and post-education quizzes to serve as a self-assessment for the information learned. The webinars will provide information on the uniqueness, differences, exceptions, or special concerns for the disease sites.
Each lecture will contain the following topics
Overview and Learning Objectives
Anatomy Affecting Stage
Classification Issues
Assigning T, N, M, Stage Group Information & Questions on AJCC Staging and Summary
*No continuing education (CE) hours will be provided.
The first live webinar (Melanoma) will occur on July 27th. This will be recorded for anyone that is not able to
attend the live session. You can visit the AJCC to learn more about the Disease Sites webinars and stay informed.
October 15 – November 5 Application deadline = September 16 Testing window will be 3 weeks long.
CTR Exam Scholarships for TXTRA Members TXTRA members who may be taking the exam in 2016, please take note that TXTRA is offering scholarship opportunities. The scholarship is intended to benefit TXTRA members who contribute to the data collection efforts for Texas residents. Must be a TXTRA member for at least one (1) year in good standing; and must not have previously received TXTRA funds For the exam. Please see the CTR Scholarship Application for full details at http://www.txtra.org/members/ctr-exam-scholarship/.
Please email the completed and signed application to the TXTRA Education Chairperson at [email protected].
History: The Shelley Jordan Memorial Conference Scholarship will be offered again in 2016 in memory
of longtime TxTRA member Shelley Jordan who lost her life in May of 2014. Purpose: Provide financial support to a TxTRA member(s) with no available funding to attend TxTRA’s Annual
Educational Conference August 24 –26, 2016 in Dallas, TX. Award: The scholarship covers the conference registration fee. The recipient may request funding for
transportation or lodging cost. Total funding will be limited to actual expenses and will not exceed $500 including registration and all fees. Receipts must be provided for covered expenses. Scholarship recipients are not eligible to apply again for five years.
Eligibility Requirements: · Applicants must be active TxTRA members in good standing for at least one continuous year AND during
the year in which the scholarship is awarded. Applicants must not have received another TxTRA scholarship in 2016.
· Members of the TxTRA Board of Directors or Education Committee are not eligible. Associate, Inactive and Student members are not eligible to apply.
· The scholarship recipient will not be eligible to apply again for five years. The TxTRA Executive Committee will maintain a listing of all scholarship awardees, and will provide a listing of all previous scholarship winners to the Education Committee.
Process: Applicants must complete the application form and submit a 500 to 750 word essay on the 2016
topic. One scholarship recipient will be chosen. 2016 Essay Topic: The essay topic for the 2016 Shelley Jordan Memorial Conference Scholarship is: Bridging the Gap: How
Cancer Registry Data Improved Patient Quality of Care. TxTRA encourages you to share your personal thoughts and insights on your experience in how cancer registry data has improved patient quality of care. E-mail completed application and essay to: Cynthia Carlisle at [email protected] Please put “Shelley Jordan Scholarship” in the subject line of your e-mail; this will ensure your application is received.
Criteria: The essay will be scored by TxTRA’s Education Committee using the following criteria: · Adherence to the topic · Use of original ideas and/or concepts · Coherence and completeness (If application information is missing or unclear, no points will be awarded
in this category.) · Compliance with the format (see below) · Additional points may be awarded by the committee, if the applicant has never attended a TxTRA Annual
Educational Conference.
Format: · MS Word Format (.doc or .docx) · Page header that includes title of essay and name of applicant. (If more than one page, header needs to
be displayed on each page.) · Include page numbers if more than one page. Please Print or Type Applicant name:
Institution:
Mailing address: City: State: Zip code: Work phone number:
E-mail:
Years of registry experience: Years of TxTRA membership: Last year you attended a TxTRA Annual Conference: or ____ Never attended
List your cancer registry professional involvement, including TxTRA or national cancer registrar association
participation. Make sure to include positions and list activities. Use additional page if needed.
Congratulations to the Texas Cancer Registry (TCR) on earning North American Association
of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) Gold certification and meeting National Program of
Central Registries (NPCR) high quality data standards for reporting year 2013. This is truly
a collaborative effort and reflection of the high quality and completeness of Texas data. We
need to make sure we have all submitted our 2014 and 2015 data for this year’s Call for
Data.
Dr. Melanie Williams is back as the Manager of the Texas Cancer Registry as of July 18,
2016. While happy to have Dr. Williams back with the registry, the TCR is also sad to bid
farewell to the manager in the Arlington office, Dora Rodrigues-Flores and Austin office,
Velma Garza. Dora has changed career paths and is with Community Health Services as of
July 1, 2016. Velma Garza is retiring after over 34 years with the TCR effective August 5,
2016. Both will be missed.
The TCR is currently testing the Version 16 edits and ready to test the Version 16 Registry
Plus Cancer reporting software. Additional information on both will be sent via email as
well as posted on the TCR website.
2016 Intermediate/Advanced Cancer Reporting Trainings are still being conducted across
Texas. If you have not registered please do so as soon as possible. Currently still pending
are:
Fort Worth – July 18-19 and July 20-21 Lubbock – August 15- 16 El Paso – August 18-19 To register, please fill out this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JSC2PB9
NCRA Recruitment & Retention Board Director 2015-2017
NCRA’s mission is to serve as the premier education, credentialing, and advocacy resource for cancer data professionals. Although state cancer registrar associations are not directly affiliated with the national organization, we do work together in a variety of ways to promote the valuable work of this important profession. NCRA connects with state associations through its Advocacy and Technical Practice Directors or ATPDs. These board members serve as the liaisons between members and NCRA on matters of advocacy and technical practice. The ATPDs correspond with state presidents through direct e-mails, NCRA’s quarterly E-newsletter to the States, and a meet-and-greet at the annual conference. ATPD-Midwest: Maria Teresa Ramirez, BS, CTR (email: [email protected]) Social Media Members and state associations can also keep up to date by participating in NCRA’s social networks on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. This is the quickest way to network with your peers to exchange information and ideas. [As an aside, please don’t utilize social media to ask specific abstracting questions that are more appropriately addressed through the CAnswer Forum, Central Registries or our various manuals. If you know which manual/chapter/page addresses a specific question, responding with that information can be beneficial.] www.ncra-usa.org/FB www.ncra-usa.org/LinkedIn www.twitter.com/NCRAnews Advocacy NCRA’s main advocacy effort in the coming years is to establish a distinct detailed occupation code of "Medical Registrar" in the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. NCRA completed the first step of this multi-year process by submitting an application in July 2014 to the Office of Management and Budget. NCRA believes that a specific SOC code for “medical registrars” would ensure that the statistics on the medical registry workforce will be more accurate, providing a clearer understanding of the current and future workforce needs and salary details. Correct salary information will also help recruit and retain qualified individuals to this important profession and will ensure that skilled personnel are hired to fill cancer registrar positions at both the central and hospital levels. NCRA has prepared materials to help its members and other medical registrars understand the importance and the process for establishing a distinct SOC code for “Medical Registrars.” To access these resources, including a video outlining NCRA’s rationale and the SOC process, visit www.ncra-usa.org/SOCcode. As of June 2016, NCRA is still waiting to hear the results from the Department of Labor. As soon as an update is available, NCRA will inform the membership.
NCRA Update (cont.) CCRE NCRA’s Center for Cancer Registry Education is the focus of its educational programming. Also known as the CCRE, the site is designed to provide easy access to high-quality educational programming to support both seasoned professionals and those new to the field. It is a learning management system or LMS. An LMS is an online system for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, and delivery of education courses or training programs. Colleges and universities use an LMS to deliver online classes and augment on-campus courses. Non-profit organizations, like NCRA, and corporate training departments use an LMS to deliver online training and to automate registration and CE record-keeping. The CCRE is one-stop-access to a variety of products and services that allows cancer registrars to tailor their training and manage continuing education credits. The educational products can be accessed 24 hours a day and are reasonably priced to ensure all registrars have access to high-quality training. To address the need to increase the cancer registry workforce, the CCRE also provides information on how to become a cancer registrar and earn the CTR credential. The heart of NCRA’s CCRE is located under two tabs: CE Opportunities and CTR Prep. Under the CTR Prep tab, registrars can register for the online CTR Prep workshop as well as access the new CTR Exam Practice Test and the archived CTR Exam Readiness webinars. Under the CE Opportunities tab, registrars can access a variety of educational products, including: •Live Webinars •Learning Modules •Online Courses •Annual Conference DVD •Journal of Registry Management Quizzes The CCRE not only provides easy access to high-quality training, it also allows registrars to manage their continuing education. Under the “My Learning Activities” tab, the system stores information on all the educational products a learner has purchased and completed, serving as a tool for the registrar to track and manage CE credits. In 2015, NCRA added a tab entitled “AHIMA” to host the NCRA-AHIMA Cancer Registry Management Certificate Program and to host AHIMA’s online Coding Basics program. Visit the Center for Cancer Registry Education at www.CancerRegistryEducation.org. NCRA is committed to preparing cancer registrars for the transition from Collaborative Stage to AJCC TNM and Summary Stage. To that end, NCRA has created a separate tab on the CCRE to serve as a hub for NCRA’s TNM and Summary Stage training and resources. NCRA has posted to this tab the TNM and Summary Stage sessions from the 2015 and 2014 annual conferences. These sessions have been posted for registrars to view free of charge. Also, posted under this tab are the 2015 sessions from NCI-SEER’s and CDC-NPCR’s pre-conference workshops. To access the complimentary presentations from the Annual Conference, go to: www.CancerRegistryEducation.org/tnm-ss-transition. In 2015, NCRA released Cancer Case Studies: A Workbook to Practice Assigning AJCC TNM Stage and Coding SEER Summary Stage. The workbook provides opportunities for registrars to practice assigning AJCC TNM Stage and coding SEER Summary Stage. It has been designed to assist those new to the cancer registry field to build their skills as well as seasoned professionals who want to improve their proficiencies. The workbook contains 40 cases. The answers and rationales are provided to ensure understanding.
NCRA Update (cont.) Also in 2015, NCRA developed a new resource: Informational Abstracts. As you know, the abstract is the basis of all registry functions. It is a tool used to help accurately determine stage and to aid cancer research; therefore, the abstract must be complete, containing all the information needed to provide a concise analysis of the patient’s disease from diagnosis to treatment. To assist registrars in preparing abstracts, NCRA’s Education Committee created a series of informational abstracts. These site-specific abstracts provide an outline to follow when determining what text to include. To access this complimentary resource, go to the “Resources” tab at the Center for Cancer Registry Education. The website is www.CancerRegistryEducation.org. In 2015, NCRA also created an Online Case Studies product. This helpful training tool is available through the Center for Cancer Registry Education and provides 15 online cases studies. Correct answers and corresponding rationales are presented upon completion of each case. Note: These are different cases than the ones in the Cancer Case Studies Workbook that NCRA released in the spring of 2015. Learn more at: www.CancerRegistryEducation.org. CTR Prep
NCRA offers a wide variety of CTR Exam Prep resources, including:
NCRA Study Guide for the CTR Exam
Online CTR Exam Practice Test
CTR Exam Prep Online Workshop
Archived CTR Prep Webinars
The 2016 edition of the NCRA’s Study Guide for the CTR Exam will be available December 18, 2015.
Go to: www.ncra-usa.org/CTRPrep to learn more! New Member Benefit: Professional Liability Insurance Professional Liability Insurance protects you against claims arising from real or alleged errors or omissions, including negligence, in the course of your professional duties. Remember, legal defense and settlement costs are paid in addition to your limits of liability.
The limits of liability offered are $1,000,000/$6,000,000. Upon approval, the premiums for individual policy holders can be as follows:
• Employed Part-Time: $98 premium, $10 administrative fee for members of NCRA/$20 for non-members • Employed Full-Time: $98 premium, $10 administrative fee for members of NCRA/$20 for non-members • Self-Employed Part-Time: $100 premium, $10 administrative fee for members of NCRA/$20 for non-members • Self-Employed Full-Time: $192 premium, $10 administrative fee for members of NCRA/$20 for non-members
Go to http://www.ncra-usa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=4243 to learn more.
Make sure to visit NCRA’s website at www.ncra-usa.org to learn more about NCRA products and services, critical dates, and industry updates.
If you have not renewed your membership for 2016 you still have time. Applications for membership are not accepted within 30 days of the Annual Education Conference. Renew before July 24th to claim your TxTRA member rate!
Registration for the Texas Tumor Registrars Association 44th Annual Education Conference
is now open. You can register for both the conference and the hotel here. Please book
through this link to avoid confusion on availability.
http://www.txtra.org/annualmeeting/
Register on or before August 7, 2016 to receive the early registration discount. Online
registration will close end of business August 19, 2016.
Book your hotel by July 26th to get the TxTRA rate.
Ways and Means is accepting Raffle Baskets and Door Prize donations. Please notify Stacy
Torrez if you will be making a donation to ensure we have enough space for all the TxTRA
Our vibrant urban location in the downtown arts and financial district is just minutes
from the Dallas Convention Center, One Arts Plaza, AT&T Performing Arts Center, the
Cotton Bowl Stadium, and Victory Park, home of the American Airlines Center.
RECREATION Dallas Arboretum
Six Flags Over Texas Dallas Zoo
Dallas World Aquarium American Airlines Center
Myerson Symphony
ARTS & CULTURE Dallas Center of the Performing Arts
Dallas Museum Of Art Nasher Sculpture Center
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (JFK Museum) African American Museum
The Dallas Museum of Art Dallas World Aquarium
TxTRA ExTRA—Summer 2016
WEST END HISTORIC DISTRICT Whether you’re a local looking for fun things to do in Downtown Dallas or a visitor wanting to experience the best of the Big D, the West End Historic District is the ultimate destination. Located in the northwest corridor of Downtown Dallas, Texas, our 67.5 acres’ district is full of restaurants, shops, museums, and entertainment. Our streets combine historic charm with modern elements and an authentic atmosphere to provide you with an experience unlike any other. From world-famous attractions like the Dallas World Aquarium and the John F. Kennedy Memorial to gourmet wild game dinners and horse drawn carriage tours, no one does Dallas like we do.
Dick’s Last Resort Hard Rock Cafe
Spaghetti Warehouse
Dining and Recreation Options (cont.)
TxTRA ExTRA—Summer 2016
DEEP ELLUM
This former warehouse district immediately east of downtown is the Dallas headquarters for live music. In the early 1900's, it was the hotbed of the blues and of African-American life and culture. Today, in addition to blues, the area swings with everything from jazz to alternative beats. Among the 42 clubs and numerous restaurants are shops and galleries where clothing and jewelry often double as original works of art. If you are looking for something entirely different, Deep Ellum is the place to go. Described as a little New Orleans and Southern SoHo, Deep Ellum is a trendy and hip area of modern Dallas.