Radiation Oncology residency-Undergrad grades

[011235813]

Hey all,

I've heard rumours of residencies like Radiology looking at Undergraduate (not med school) transcripts when selecting for residency spots. Anybody know if this is true, and if it is, do Rad Onc Residencies do the same?

Thanks in advance!

[Lactic Folly]

Check the CaRMS program descriptions. The instructions for each program should state if undergraduate transcripts are requested as an extra document.

[ChemPetE]

Some of the Ontario schools asked for it (Ottawa, Queen’s?) when I went through a handful of years ago. Doubt it mattered much. I’ll echo lactate’a comments, just check charms and make sure whatever documents they ask for get sent.

[011235813]

2 hours ago, ChemPetE said:

Some of the Ontario schools asked for it (Ottawa, Queen’s?) when I went through a handful of years ago. Doubt it mattered much. I’ll echo lactate’a comments, just check charms and make sure whatever documents they ask for get sent.

Thanks. Yeah, checked program descriptions. A few require an undergrad transcript, the rest don't. Same with Radiology and Nuclear Medicine. (Those were the specialties I looked at descriptions for) Thanks! 

[PB med]

What is the job market in radiation oncology? How does it compare to the job market for medical oncology?  From speaking to the residents, I gathered that it is quite difficult to find a job, and you may need several fellowships to get a staff position? Is that true?

Can someone expand on this?  How does the rad onc job market to medical oncologists?

 

[90213]

For rad onc, there is more infrastructure needed to run a department (eg linear accelerators, medical physicists, electronic engineers to fix/maintain linacs etc), which limits the number of cancer centres that can operate and in turn, limits where rad oncs can practice. Compared to med onc where the infrastructure needs are way less, and there are more potential practice locations. So based on that, med onc job opportunities are greater than rad onc. However, I don’t any hard numbers to quote off the top of my head - perhaps someone else can provide.

in terms of fellowships for rad onc , you will need at least one, regardless of academic vs community setting. Long gone are the days where you could come out of residency and work In the community without a fellowship (collateral effect of a tightened job market and the bar being raised for job applicants). There’s a high likelihood one will have to work somewhere as a staff in less desired location, before landing the staff job of one’s preference. Also, timing plays a role in hiring; ex if a department needs CNS rad onc, and one has interest in that area and plans to do a fellowship, then you could land a spot In a prime cancer centre. Plus, govt funding changes, potential for new cancer centres, retiring rad oncs also play a role etc. Multiple moving parts which are hard to predict.

bottom line, if you really are interested in rad onc - do it, do what you need to do to land the job in your preferred location and go into the whole thing with your eyes wide open.

[ChemPetE]

On 11/5/2018 at 10:18 AM, 90213 said:

For rad onc, there is more infrastructure needed to run a department (eg linear accelerators, medical physicists, electronic engineers to fix/maintain linacs etc), which limits the number of cancer centres that can operate and in turn, limits where rad oncs can practice. Compared to med onc where the infrastructure needs are way less, and there are more potential practice locations. So based on that, med onc job opportunities are greater than rad onc. However, I don’t any hard numbers to quote off the top of my head - perhaps someone else can provide.

in terms of fellowships for rad onc , you will need at least one, regardless of academic vs community setting. Long gone are the days where you could come out of residency and work In the community without a fellowship (collateral effect of a tightened job market and the bar being raised for job applicants). There’s a high likelihood one will have to work somewhere as a staff in less desired location, before landing the staff job of one’s preference. Also, timing plays a role in hiring; ex if a department needs CNS rad onc, and one has interest in that area and plans to do a fellowship, then you could land a spot In a prime cancer centre. Plus, govt funding changes, potential for new cancer centres, retiring rad oncs also play a role etc. Multiple moving parts which are hard to predict.

bottom line, if you really are interested in rad onc - do it, do what you need to do to land the job in your preferred location and go into the whole thing with your eyes wide open.

This. Latest HR data from this year's CARO shows that less grads are going to the US, and as such the average is 2 years from graduation to full time employment which has been steady the past few years. Will this change? There are opinions on both sides. Biggest factor is utilization of radiotherapy trends, which is hard to predict. But latest trends are that we should probably SBRT'ing more...

[thestar10]

On 11/6/2018 at 12:46 PM, ChemPetE said:

 Biggest factor is utilization of radiotherapy trends, which is hard to predict. But latest trends are that we should probably SBRT'ing more...

3

Cough*SABR-COMET*Cough. A lot more

[thepit]

On 11/6/2018 at 10:46 AM, ChemPetE said:

This. Latest HR data from this year's CARO shows that less grads are going to the US, and as such the average is 2 years from graduation to full time employment which has been steady the past few years. Will this change? There are opinions on both sides. Biggest factor is utilization of radiotherapy trends, which is hard to predict. But latest trends are that we should probably SBRT'ing more...

 

On 11/8/2018 at 10:51 AM, thestar10 said:

Cough*SABR-COMET*Cough. A lot more

Would increases in SBRT offset decreased utilization from hypofractionation and improved systemic targeted/immuno therapies?

[thestar10]

On 11/13/2018 at 6:05 PM, thepit said:

 

Would increases in SBRT offset decreased utilization from hypofractionation and improved systemic targeted/immuno therapies?

In Ontario, we are paid per course of radiation. we don't bill by the fraction. Any treatment that takes less up less linac time essentially means we have more treatment unit availability. It's relatively the same amount of effort to plan both SBRT and regular fractionation. 

Improved targeted/immunotherapies mean patients live longer and are more likely to need radiation intervention at some point in time. The vast majority of approved indications are for metastatic cancers so we are not shrinking our patient pool but are expanding it.