Respecting cancer committee members as volunteers: tools for the cancer registrar

Most cancer registrars work with cancer committees and are challenged by the many struggles associated with maintaining compliance with the Commission on Cancer standards regarding attendance and participation. Facilitymandated participation may improve the attendance of those participants who are employed by the facility, but even then, fully engaged involvement often remains elusive. Ironically, it is often the cancer registrar who is held responsible for finding ways to keep the cancer committee engaged. Viewing and respecting cancer committee members as volunteers offers the cancer registrar a unique opportunity to utilize the tools of volunteer management to meet these challenges. Several techniques were taken from experts in the field of volunteer management and adapted for use with cancer committees.