Scholar-Practitioner Project on Lung Cancer Paper Example

Introduction

For my scholar-practitioner project, I chose cancer. According to the World Health Organization (2018), cancer is a collective term for a large group of diseases that various body parts. Other terms are used to describe cancer include neoplasms and tumors. The common underlying mechanism of cancer is the rapid multiplication of abnormal cells. These cells grow beyond their common boundaries and cause the diseases by invading adjoining parts of the body and spreading to other organs. The spread these cells to other body organs is known as metastasis. Metastases are the primary causes of death from cancer.

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Cancer is the second cause of death in the world. It has been established that 9.6 million people died from cancer in 2018 (Christensen, 2018; Cone, 2018; Tidey, 2018) Globally, 1 in every 6 deaths is attributable to cancer (Roser & Ritchie, 2018). About 70% of cancer deaths are found in low-income and middle-income nations.

The population at Risk of Lung Cancer

According to the Alberg and Nonemaker (2008), lung cancer is the world's leading cause of cancer death. Despite this fact, it has been established that there currently exist large geographic disparities nationally and internationally regarding the prevalence of lung cancer. Even though most factors attributed to lung cancer have been found, cigarette smoking is the primary cause. Consequently, one of the populations at the highest risk of lung cancer is tobacco or cigarette smokers. Because of the high risk linked to cigarette smoking in the development of lung cancer, it is the most important predictor of the lung cancer burden in most populations.

A population's high risk of developing lung cancer is predicted using historical patterns of the incidence of cigarette smoking. Consequently, the current prevalence of cigarette smoking is used to predict the high-risk populations of the future. Apart from cigarette smoking, men are at a higher risk of lung cancer than women. For instance, it has been established that the incidence of lung cancer is higher among men than women (CDC, 2014; Baldini, 2018; O'Keeffe et al., 2018). In the United States, African American men and people of lower socioeconomic status have also been found to be at high risk for lung cancer Alberg and Nonemaker (2008).

Primary and Secondary Sources of Data

Lung cancer data need to perform surveillance can be obtained from the CDC's U.S. Cancer Statistics Data Visualizations Tool. The United States' official federal source of data related to cancer incidence and deaths are produced by the CDC and National Cancer Institute. From the CDC's U.S. Cancer Statistics Data Visualizations Tool, it is possible to explore lung cancer data per state, the rate of new cancers, the rate of cancer deaths, and a number of cancer deaths. It is also possible to determine the prevalence of cancer per sex (U.S. Cancer Statistics, 2015).

According to CDC (2018), the primary source of cancer incidence medical records. The healthcare professionals found along all the levels of healthcare collect data from patients, put it into the hospital's cancer registry, and then forward the data to the regional or state registry. On the other hand, the primary source of cancer mortality deaths is all death certificates from across the country. Lastly, population denominator data (death rates and incidence) are ethnicity-specific, race-specific, and sex-specific county population estimates combined forming to the metropolitan-area or state level (CDC, 2018). Moreover, cancer data can be obtained from secondary sources such as registries and databases.

Collecting Information from Different Data Sources

Collection of cancer data from different cancer data sources will be done using different approaches. For instance, to collect primary cancer data, permission will be sought from the local hospitals which have the most current information on cancer incidence and deaths. Similarly, to access secondary cancer data sources, permission will be sought from relevant databases and registries. Lastly, I will collect federal cancer data through the CDC website, which contains freely accessible and downloadable data.

Personnel Involved in Collecting and Providing Data

Data collection is done by different people based on whether the data is primary or secondary. Primary data is collected at local hospitals by local healthcare providers, e.g. clinicians and nurses. On the other hand, secondary data, e.g. those accessible through databases are compiled by researchers. Lastly, federal cancer data is collected by relevant departments of the CDC.

Description of The Aggregate Record of Data

Aggregate record of data will be obtained from the CDC's U.S. Cancer Statistics Data Visualizations Tool, which is accessible via the CDC website. U.S. Cancer Statistics Data Visualizations Tool contains lung cancer data per state, the rate of new cancers, the rate of cancer deaths, number of cancer deaths, and prevalence of cancer per sex (U.S. Cancer Statistics, 2015).

Ensuring Quality of The Data Collected

Several strategies will be used to ensure that the data collected is of high quality. This can be guaranteed through integrated data analytics, exploring data to learn more about it, by establishing a single standard report system formed by coding and data quality metrics, and working with healthcare professionals in the collection and processing of the data.

References

Alberg, A. J., & Nonemaker, J. (2008). Who is at high risk for lung cancer? Population-level and individual-level perspectives. Seminars in Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 29(3), 223-232. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-2008-1076742

Baldini, H.E. (2018). Women and lung cancer. Retrieved December from https://www.uptodate.com/contents/women-and-lung-cancer

CDC (2014). Lung cancer incidence trends among men and women - united states, 2005-2009. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6301a1.htm

CDC (2018). Data sources. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/uscs/technical_notes/data_sources/index.htm

Christensen, J. (2018). Report: 10 million will die of cancer this year. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/12/health/cancer-rates-increase-worldwide-study-intl/index.html

Cone, A. (2018). WHO: 9.6 million cancer deaths, 18 million new cases this year. Retrieved from https://www.upi.com/WHO-96-million-cancer-deaths-18-million-new-cases-this-year/6681536840614/

O'Keeffe, L. M., Taylor, G., Huxley, R. R., Mitchell, P., Woodward, M., & Peters, S. A. E. (2018). Smoking as a risk factor for lung cancer in women and men: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open, 8(10), e021611. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-021611

Roser, M., and Ritchie, H. (2018). Cancer. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/cancer

Tidey, A. (2018, September 13). Cancer will kill 9.6 million people globally in 2018: report. Retrieved From https://www.euronews.com/2018/09/13/cancer-will-kill-9-6-million-people-globally-in-2018-report

U.S. Cancer Statistics (2015). Leading Cancer Cases and Deaths, Male and Female, 2015. Retrieved December from https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/USCS/DataViz.html

World Health Organization (2018). Cancer. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer