cgy_guy23 Posted May 27, 2010 Report Share Posted May 27, 2010 Any residents in Radiation Oncology want to give a nice detailed spiel about their experiences? Pros? Cons? Funny/interesting/awesome experiences? How difficult it was to get into the program? There is not an awful lot on here regarding this specialty but it sounds like a really cool one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DubZteR Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 Any residents in Radiation Oncology want to give a nice detailed spiel about their experiences? Pros? Cons? Funny/interesting/awesome experiences? How difficult it was to get into the program? There is not an awful lot on here regarding this specialty but it sounds like a really cool one. Pros: -VERY, VERY, VERY awesome lifestyle (light work week) -get to work with lots of cool, easy going peeps -oncologist/patient relationship is unique and very rewarding -home call (except at Toronto, Alberta) -few oncologic emergencies in rad onc -average of one weekend call every 8 WEEKS !!! -opportunity to do some cutting edge research -length of training in oncology is greater than any other specialty(4 yrs) -get to play with lots of fancy high tech toys -high financial compensation Cons: -have to be able to deal with death and terminal illness -have to be able to tolerate some physics -steep learning curve -can be difficult to find a job in saturated cities like toronto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearfuzz Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 This specialty does look super interesting...I have nothing to add to the thread but look forward to hearing more from the dubzter about the residency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fingers_crossed Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 Could you expand a little bit on exactly what a Rad Oncologist do? What's the hours like when working in hospitals? Also, could you please also expand on the "high financial compensation" and anything else that you feel would help to create a realistic image of this field? Thank you very much! Pros:-VERY, VERY, VERY awesome lifestyle (light work week) -get to work with lots of cool, easy going peeps -oncologist/patient relationship is unique and very rewarding -home call (except at Toronto, Alberta) -few oncologic emergencies in rad onc -average of one weekend call every 8 WEEKS !!! -opportunity to do some cutting edge research -length of training in oncology is greater than any other specialty(4 yrs) -get to play with lots of fancy high tech toys -high financial compensation Cons: -have to be able to deal with death and terminal illness -have to be able to tolerate some physics -steep learning curve -can be difficult to find a job in saturated cities like toronto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeman101 Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 Anybody know what the job market looks like for radonc? I heard its pretty sparse right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DubZteR Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 Anybody know what the job market looks like for radonc? I heard its pretty sparse right now. It's decent and better than many other specialties right now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeman101 Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 It's decent and better than many other specialties right now! Are you doing your residency in radonc? I've always wanted to do radonc but lately it seems the field might be too specialized. As opposed to something like radiology which is more general and can be relevant in almost any scale of healthcare (small rural clinics to tertiary care hospitals). I kinda don't want to be a one-trick pony so to speak. ^ care to share thoughts on that? EDIT: I'm in 1st year med. Just exploring options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeman101 Posted February 26, 2011 Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 Yup it does. Don't get me wrong before I started med I was pretty much set on radonc. Then things happened which have made me doubt my stance. Now I'm kinda split on a lot of things. I just know the ones I don't want to do for sure: surgery, urology, obs/gyn. Trust me surgery holds no special interest for me. I value a life outside my career. Thanks for your help. I was mostly thinking about this stuff right now because I would like to get started on some research work in the summer to hopefully produce something meaningful by the end of med. Maybe a pub or conference or something. EDIT: What are the options for private practice in radonc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DubZteR Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 EDIT: What are the options for private practice in radonc? For Canada or the US? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liszt Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 I've been thinking we should get some new specialty-specific Q&A type threads going and this seems like a great start for Rad Onc. I'm going to sticky this. Big thanks to DubZteR for all the insight. Hope you find the time to keep checking back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeman101 Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 For Canada or the US? Well, both. LOL. I'm equally likely to end up in Canada or the US. For residency or for practice. Privately practice is pretty high on my priority list in either case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DubZteR Posted March 2, 2011 Report Share Posted March 2, 2011 What is the average range of radiation oncology income/year? PM me if you'd prefer. for the US or Canada? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DubZteR Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Nevertheless, he said that its entails a wide variety of treatments that will continue to be used even though he doesn't think the specialty will survive as its too highly specialized (maybe as a sub-specialty of radiology or IM). Absolutely false! To give you a bit of historical perspective, radiation oncology a long time ago was called therapeutic radiology as the field originally branched out from radiology. The reason for the branch was because the field was growing exponentially such that a radiologist could not practice rad onc competently as a fellowship. Rad onc continues to be a very fast growing field (hence the research intensitivity). For rad onc to be absorbed into IM, it would imply that rad oncs have to be internists. However, rad oncs are not internists by training like med oncs. The lifestyle of a rad onc is also night and day compared to a med onc and this in part has to do with the fact that rad onc branched out from radiology compared with med onc which is a 2 yr fellowship after IM. This lifestyle aspect of rad onc is important to many rad oncs and I guarantee you that most would not be willing to compromise on this. It's also nice to see that so many Canadian med students seem to have "discovered" rad onc recently and have flocked to rad onc for electives. Here at McMaster, we've had elective students rotate non stop since September. Rad onc was very competitive this year in Canada continues to be the same in the US. On another note, he said that the program is very academically rigorous and that residents (and attendings too) make up for their lack of hours spent slaving over patients with other things like much bigger academic requirements than other programs (more research, presentations, teaching, etc.). Is this true? Research is expected during residency in rad onc as we have the highest rate of MD/PhDs of any specialty (both in the US/Canada) and teaching is important regardless of specialty. However, I would disagree that the lack of slaving away on ward patients is compensated by research. Talk to any rad onc and they'll tell you the same thing ... the lifestyle of rad onc and job satisfaction is amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DubZteR Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 DubZter, its an interesting field but what about the science of radiation oncology? I'm not sure what you mean by the science of rad onc? If by science you mean the radiobiology of cancer cells, then it's been well proven that radiation works on a very large number of cancers. Do you think that it could fall in importance as other forms of cancer therapy arise? Short answer is No. We're beginning to notice that new technologies such as radiosurgery are just as effective (if not more) than conventional surgery but with much less morbitity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeman101 Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 DubZter, its an interesting field but what about the science of radiation oncology? Do you think that it could fall in importance as other forms of cancer therapy arise? Yea people say that all the time. Everyone talks about the miracle p53 gene, etc. and stuff like that but cancer is a very tough to fight because of the multitude of ways it can adapt. With radonc evolving as it is I think this field will only grow in importance for cancer therapy. Procedures are getting more accurate, new equipment being developed, new treatment procedures all together (ex: photodynamic therapy). Hard to see radonc be overshadowed in cancer therapy IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearfuzz Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Hey Dubzter, Do you know of anyone who does a little cancer epidemiology in conjunction with rad onc? Or are the MD/PhD's mainly cancer biologists basic science guys? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DubZteR Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Hey Dubzter, Do you know of anyone who does a little cancer epidemiology in conjunction with rad onc? Or are the MD/PhD's mainly cancer biologists basic science guys? at McMaster? .. or just in general? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DubZteR Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 I meant no disrespect and I didn't question the science of it as Rad Onc is probably the best example of evidence-based medicine; I was just referring Rad Onc vs. other treatments but you and the other guy addressed it very well. I am sure 20 years ago, people asked my same questions only to see how far the field has come with Rad Onc growing faster than ever. Hope you are enjoying your residency! No worries!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearfuzz Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 both i guess, is anyone at mcmaster doing that currently? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DubZteR Posted March 14, 2011 Report Share Posted March 14, 2011 both i guess, is anyone at mcmaster doing that currently? let me ask around and i'll get back to ya .. cuz i can't think of anyone off the top of my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DubZteR Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 So I got names of a few rad oncs that do epi for you. George Rodriges is cross appointed to epi and he's at UWO. Lawrence Pazsat and Lisa Barbera are the population epis at Toronto. Bill Mccillop is the guru in Canada and he's at Queens. His protege is Scott Tyldsley at UBC. A few at McMaster as well including Tim Whelan. Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearfuzz Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 So I got names of a few rad oncs that do epi for you. George Rodriges is cross appointed to epi and he's at UWO. Lawrence Pazsat and Lisa Barbera are the population epis at Toronto. Bill Mccillop is the guru in Canada and he's at Queens. His protege is Scott Tyldsley at UBC. A few at McMaster as well including Tim Whelan. Hope that helps! Wow that is great, thank you. I get more and more interested in this specialty every time I look at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackJack Posted April 15, 2011 Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 Hey DubZter, I know very little about radiation oncology as a field. What would you suggest as to regarding discovering what this specialty is about? Which textbook would you suggest for reading? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DubZteR Posted April 17, 2011 Report Share Posted April 17, 2011 Hey DubZter, I know very little about radiation oncology as a field. What would you suggest as to regarding discovering what this specialty is about? Which textbook would you suggest for reading? I'm not sure where you are in your training, but if you're a med student, the easiest way to learn more about rad onc is to set up a shadowing experience (usually a day or two) at your school and go from there. If the shoe fits, then you could look into setting up a longer elective As far as textbook, cancernetwork.com has an excellent multidisciplinary oncology online text http://www.cancernetwork.com/cancer-management you can access for free by signing up. Basic Radiation Oncology is also an easy read. http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Radiation-Oncology-M-Beyzadeoglu/dp/3642116655 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearfuzz Posted November 25, 2011 Report Share Posted November 25, 2011 Hey Dubzter, How is residency going so far? Would you be willing to provide a sort of day in the life of a radiation oncologist from your residency to date? I think that would be pretty awesome. Hope all is well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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