Positive and Negative Effects of IT on Cancer Registries

Abstract

In the new millennium people are facing serious challenges in health care, especially with increasing noncommunicablediseases (NCD). One of the most common NCDs is cancer which is the leading cause of death indeveloped countries and in developing countries is the second cause of death after heart diseases. Cancer registrycan make possible the analysis, comparison and development of national and international cancer strategies andplanning. Information technology has a vital role in quality improvement and facility of cancer registries. Withthe use of IT, in addition to gaining general benefits such as monitoring rates of cancer incidence and identifyingplanning priorities we can also gain specific advantages such as collecting information for a lifetime, creating telemedical records, possibility of access to information by patient, patient empowerment, and decreasing medicalerrors. In spite of the powerful role of IT, we confront various challenges such as general problems, like privacyof the patient, and specific problems, including possibility of violating patients rights through misrepresentation,omission of human relationships, and decrease in face to face communication between doctors and patients. Byimplementing appropriate strategies, such as identifying authentication levels, controlling approaches, codingdata, and considering technical and content standards, we can optimize the use of IT. The aim of this paper isto emphasize the need for identifying positive and negative effects of modern IT on cancer registry in generaland specific aspects as an approach to cancer care management.