The year ahead for the National Cancer Registrars Association will be one of innovation and new initiatives. 2012 will begin with efforts to develop many of the programs and products outlined in NCRA's recent $1 million cooperative agreement with the CDC's National Program of Cancer Registries.

Plans include the launch of a Learning Content Management System to automate the administration, tracking, and reporting of all NCRA training opportunities, as well as the educational programs of partner organizations; the creation of a Cancer Surveillance Workforce Toolkit for HIM schools to enhance instructor resources; and the development of a webpage dedicated to cancer surveillance workforce recruitment and retention resources, tools, and research.

In early 2012, NCRA also will release its Workload and Staffing Study: Guidelines for Central Cancer Registry Programs. The study will provide central cancer registries with national staffing and workload data to inform staff planning and budgeting. It is the companion study to the 2011 workload study for hospital registries. The guidelines also will serve as a tool for managers in advocating for adequate staffing to meet cancer registration goals. Susan A. Chapman, PhD, RN, and Vanessa Lindler, MA, from the Center for Health Professions, University of California, San Francisco, prepared the study, which responds to earlier research that found the recruitment and retention of cancer registry staff were major concerns of managers, but the lack of national, standardized staffing data made it difficult to accurately assess needs and support hiring.

NCRA's 2012 Annual Educational Conference-scheduled for April 18-21 at the Gaylord National in Washington, DC-will be packed with cutting-edge plenaries and breakout sessions, along with myriad networking events, including the welcome reception in the exhibit hall. This year's theme is United We Stand in Education, Advocacy and Professional Development. Meeting in the nation's capital provides a unique opportunity for cancer registrars to visit their representatives on Capitol Hill and to educate them on the important work of a registrar. NCRA will provide training on how to make the most of the Hill visits and will prepare a leave-behind packet with facts sheets that explain the work of cancer registrars and outline how the data that registrars collect is used to improve public health.

NCRA recently launched a new webinar series focused on professional development that will continue into 2012. The series offers training to help registrars prepare for management and leadership positions. The first webinar-A Leadership Primer for Cancer Registrars-had record attendance and was presented by Cynthia Boudreaux, LPN, CTR. She helped participants recognize their inherent leadership skills, identify leadership attributes in others, and create a personal plan-of-action to develop the skills needed to be an effective leader. The webinar will be archived and available on NCRA's website in January.

The two remaining webinars in the three-part series-Time Flies and Working with Remote Staff-are scheduled for Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. ET and March 21 at 3 p.m. ET, respectively. In her presentation, Time Flies, Melissa Riddle, RHIT, CTR, will outline a new approach to time management and present ways to control workload by setting smaller benchmarks in order to reach ultimate goals.

In the session Working with Remote Staff, Karen Coyne, MSc, RN, CTR, will discuss how to use today's technologies to one's advantage and share tips on ways to develop effective operational processes to support a collaborative virtual environment.

NCRA is looking forward to an exciting 2012 as we continue to develop and implement new programming to meet the evolving training and professional development needs of cancer registrars. For more information on the programs and products noted above, please visit NCRA's website at www.ncra-usa.org.

Melanie W. Rogan, CTR, is president of the National Cancer Registrars Association and director of registry services, Electronic Registry Systems (ERS).