Monitoring regional cancer rates is critical for strategic local and state planning and can provide a “report card" on the health of a community and insight into how well cancer prevention programs are working. However, with increasingly scarce monetary resources, producing local cancer reports on a regular basis can be challenging. We tried to develop best practices for creating effective and easily updateable cancer reports in a timely manner using limited resources. NAACCR and NCI both have an abundant array of freely available software tools for analyzing cancer statistics. Utilizing these tools in conjunction with integrated Microsoft Office products resulted in quicker updates for our Cancer in Utah reports. Ultimately, the key to refining and streamlining the process was planning. Once specific table and figure formats were developed, updating them from year to year became much quicker and less resource intensive.

You can see the reports Kim discusses during the presenation
Cancer In Utah: An Overview of Cancer Incidence and Mortality from 1973-2010

Presenter: Kim Herget