How To Become A Cancer Registrar: What It Is and Career Path

What is a cancer registrar and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

According to the National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA), the purpose of a cancer registrar is to â€˜'capture a complete summary of the history, diagnosis, treatment, and disease status for every cancer patient. Registrar's work leads to better information that is used in the management of cancer, and ultimately its cure.'' Thus, in this role, you will be mainly working in a cancer treatment facility, be it a hospital or others, and tasked with maintaining data pertaining to cancer patients.

Some of the duties and responsibilities that you will be performing in this capacity include maintaining the database of cancer patients and all their details, be it personal or relating to their treatment. You will also ensure compliance with standards, run customized reports, track patient survival data, inform community needs assessment, and ensure data completeness.

Essential skills required to successfully complete these responsibilities are computer proficiency, communication, interpersonal, confidentiality, and organizational skills. Most individuals working in this field typically have an associate's degree from an accredited college. Moreover, certificate programs are also available as an alternative.

The NCRA offers a Certified Tumor Registrar (CTR) credential. Individuals must also meet the education and prerequisites to sit for a 250 question, multiple-choice exam. However, once qualified, the monetary compensation is generous. The average hourly pay for this position is $22.22, which amounts to over $46,000 annually. This career is also expected to grow in the near future.

ScoreCancer RegistrarUS Average

Salary

3.9

Avg. Salary $49,393

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.8

Growth Rate 11%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.26%

Asian 8.72%

Black or African American 9.63%

Hispanic or Latino 17.47%

Unknown 4.20%

White 58.72%

Gender

female 92.18%

male 7.82%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress Level

4.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.0

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

8.6

Work Life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Newest jobs for Cancer Registrar in Columbus, OH

Receive alerts for the newest job postings.

Key steps to become a cancer registrar

Explore cancer registrar education requirements

Most common cancer registrar degrees

Associate

42.0 %

Bachelor's

39.9 %

Diploma

6.9 %

Start to develop specific cancer registrar skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	20.35%
CTR	11.44%
Medical Terminology	10.15%
Abstracts	8.29%
Data Collection	6.26%

Complete relevant cancer registrar training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New cancer registrars learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a cancer registrar based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real cancer registrar resumes.

Research cancer registrar duties and responsibilities

Process release of information requests according to HIPAA regulations and manage valuables safe for entire facility.
Assign TNM and AJCC staging codes to newly diagnose cancer patents.
Provide coordination of cancer committee require by ACOS to meet accreditation standards.
Work for DHMC for this time period helping DHMC get up to date w cancer abstracts and the NH state cancer registry

Prepare your cancer registrar resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your cancer registrar resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a cancer registrar resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Cancer Registrar Resume templates

Build a professional Cancer Registrar resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Cancer Registrar resume.

Apply for cancer registrar jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a cancer registrar job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do cancer registrars rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Cancer Registrar reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2023

Cons

No upward opportunity after manager role

Pros

Helping with monitoring and surveillance of cancer patients data