Essay Sample on the Current Public Health Issue of Interest: Lung Cancer Disease Surveillance

Surveillance is crucial for improvement of population health (Groseclose & Buckeridge, 2017). I am interested in exploring ways in which lung cancer disease surveillance can be improved in the future. Recent studies have highlighted challenges in cancer surveillance that need to be addressed with the aim of reducing the prevalence and curbing the development of new cases. One of the problems that have been recently reported in the literature is the issue of timeliness of the cancer surveillance system. The need for timeliness of cancer registries has been emphasized in empirical studies. For instance, Zanetti et al. (2015) reported that there is a need for cancer registries to give complete and reliable incidence data without minimal delay for adequacy of cancer surveillance. Timeliness has also been reported to have implications on cancer incidence and survival (Donnelly et al., 2017). Additionally, achieving timeliness improves performance of cancer registries

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

To gain a better understanding of where the challenge of timeliness in cancer disease surveillance system originates from, it is essential to understand the organization tasked with cancer disease surveillance in the United States. According to the American Cancer Society, national level cancer surveillance is undertaken by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER). Katz (2015) noted that one of the critical issues hindering effective cancer disease surveillance is that the existing current data gathering techniques are based on passive and active reporting from laboratories and hospitals hence the untimeliness of the surveillance. The problem of poor timeliness is further exacerbated by the fact that currently, an objective standard for timeliness is missing (Jabour, 2015). It has been established that the absence of strict timelines for reporting of cancer information has adversely affected the quality of the data collected and analyzed.

Why the Issue Interests Me

Lung cancer disease surveillance interests me because lung cancer (both non-small cell and small cell) is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Except for skin cancer, the type of carcinoma has been reported to be the second most prevalent type of cancer in both women and men. It is a worrying trend that, currently, 13% of all new cancer cases are lung cancers. It has also been reported that this type of cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality among both women and men in the United States. Every year, more people are losing their lives to cancer than prostate, breast, and colon combined. Consequently, it is essential to explore how lung disease surveillance can be improved with the aim of reducing its prevalence through early diagnosis and disease reporting.

The need to explore ways of improving cancer disease surveillance is also informed by recent reports which shows that improved timeliness can have positive health outcomes on the affected individuals as well as the general population. For instance, Koo, Hamilton, Walter, Rubin, and Lyratzopoulos (2017) reported that early diagnosis, which can be achieved through enhanced timeliness of surveillance systems, is a crucial aspect of modern cancer prevention and control strategies. This is because most of the patients receive their diagnosis after the symptomatic presentation.

Moreover, I am interested in improving the timeliness of the current cancer surveillance system because the majority of patients diagnosed with lung cancer (8 in 10) are at an advanced stage of the disease during the time of diagnosis. Consequently, they are not eligible for curative treatment thus contributing to low overall five-year survival. Conversely, the prospects for patients diagnosed at an early stage of the disease has been found to be more favorable as evidenced through a five-year survival rate of between 60-70%. Consequently, I believe improving the timeliness of the current surveillance system can go a long way towards ensuring early diagnosis as well as well as in ensuring that there is improved cancer survivorship.

Ways the Information in The Course applies to my Future Dissertation Research

One of the ways in which information gained in the course is applicable in my future dissertation research is that the knowledge gained in looking for articles relevant to the assignment will be useful in conducting my future dissertation research. Specifically, this course enabled me to learn how keywords are helpful in identifying relevant articles in scholarly databases. Apart from identifying scholarly peer-reviewed articles, I gained knowledge and skills in critiquing and evaluation of empirical research articles. These knowledge and skills are invaluable in searching for quality articles for my future dissertation research.

Secondly, the research skills gained throughout the course will enable me to identify the weaknesses and challenges that are currently existing in disease surveillance systems. Consequently, in my future research work, I will be in a position to find ways of addressing these challenges with the aim of making the surveillance system more robust. Additionally, through the identification of weaknesses in surveillance systems, I will be able to advise or provide a recommendation to organizations and healthcare providers with key features they should seek when looking for a surveillance system. This will ensure that there is a timely and complete collection of disease data to enable the healthcare providers to deter disease before the outbreak and to curb its spread.

References

Dixon, B. E., Siegel, J. A., Oemig, T. V., & Grannis, S. J. (2013). Towards interoperability for public health surveillance: experiences from two states. Online Journal of Public Health Informatics, 5(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v5i1.4395

Donnelly, C., Cairnduff, V., Chen, J. J., Kearney, T., Fitzpatrick, D., Fox, C., & Gavin, A. (2017). The completeness and timeliness of cancer registration and the implications for measuring cancer burden. Cancer Epidemiology, 49(1), 101-107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.canep.2017.05.007

Groseclose, S. L., & Buckeridge, D. L. (2017). Public health surveillance systems: recent advances in their use and evaluation. Annual Review of Public Health, 38(1), 57-79. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031816-044348

Jabour, A. (2015). Cancer reporting: timeliness analysis and process reengineering. Indiana University. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/handle/1805/10481/Jabour_iupui_0104D_10096.pdf;sequence=1

Katz, S. J. (2015). Cancer care delivery research and the national cancer institute seer program: challenges and opportunities. JAMA Oncology, 1(5), 677-678. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2015.0764

Koo, M. M., Hamilton, W., Walter, F. M., Rubin, G. P., & Lyratzopoulos, G. (2017). Symptom signatures and diagnostic timeliness in cancer patients: a review of current evidence. Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.), 20(2), 165-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neo.2017.11.005

Smith, R. A., Andrews, K. S., Brooks, D., Fedewa, S. A., ManassaramBaptiste, D., Saslow, D., ... & Wender, R. C. (2018). Cancer screening in the United States, 2018: a review of current American Cancer Society guidelines and current issues in cancer screening. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 68(4), 297-316.

Zanetti, R., Schmidtmann, I., Sacchetto, L., Binder-Foucard, F., Bordoni, A., Coza, D., ... Rosso, S. (2015). Completeness and timeliness: Cancer registries could/should improve their performance. European Journal of Cancer, 51(9), 1091-1098. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2013.11.040