Any fellows/staff in medical oncology here? Would like to ask about the field.

[IM_student_111]

I've recently been thinking about medical oncology as a career choice. However I know little about the reality of the practice, and resources online have been scarce. If anyone here is in or is familiar with the field, I'd really appreciate it if you could answer some of my questions.

1) What's the practice actually like, in academic VS community centers? Is it just clinics? How much inpatient responsibility is there? What is your call schedule and lifestyle like? Do you get the opportunity to still practice some GIM on the side if you're so inclined?

2) Do medical oncologists all subspecialize nowadays, or is it possible to see a multitude of tumors in your practice? Is it realistic to start practicing after 5 years of residency or is a 1-2 year fellowship the norm?

3) What's the job market like?

4) Is medical oncology one of those fields where it's almost mandatory to have an academic career? I find that I love working with cancer patients and the science behind cancer and its treatments interests me, however I'm not sure I want research to be a huge chunk of my career.

Thank you!

[futureGP]

Im not med onc but i work with a lot and have friends in. I have some sense of ontario

You dont have to be academic. Plenty of med oncs working in community hosp.

you dont have to work at regional cancer centres. Plenty working in community hospitals around GTA with chemotherapy clinics.

Most do subspecialize to market for jobs at desirable places (GTA). I think most do end up seeing a selective set of patients because you pretty much work in a group out of cancer clinics at hospitals (either at designated cancer centres or just cancer clinics within a hospital). 
 

med onc is pretty much clinic only. You may cover inpatients if you work at regional cancer centres that typically have dedicated oncology wards but even then those wards are often staffed by hospitalists, so oncologists are rarely MRP (unless you really wanted to, most dont)

this also means theres practically no call responsibility - most cancer centres outsource these call shifts to locums or medicine anyways. And if youre not at cancer centres then definitely no call unless you love GIM.

yes med oncs are all IM and can do as much IM as they like if they like doing SMR work and get paid $$$ overnight not the shitty $2/hr during residency.

 

to summarize, MedOnc work at pretty much every major academic/community hospitals. It is purely outpatient clinic based. Clinics are funded by hospitals with nursing support. You don’t do call unless you want to. You don’t have to do IM unless you want to (sometimes may need to do some as part of the GIM pool). In terms of pay, I think most get alternate funding but may be ffs - i am not too sure about this part. 
 

the thing is in ontario, chemo has funding associated with it. Hospitals love things that have funding associated with it. Which means hospitals want to run chemo clinics. This means they need medical oncologists. So you’ll be treated well cuz u bring in money to hospitals. Unlike GIM where you spend that money brought in by cancer patients on old geriatric patients with multiple comorbidities who cant go home cuz they cant walk.

[IM_student_111]

On 1/20/2022 at 12:37 AM, futureGP said:

Im not med onc but i work with a lot and have friends in. I have some sense of ontario

You dont have to be academic. Plenty of med oncs working in community hosp.

you dont have to work at regional cancer centres. Plenty working in community hospitals around GTA with chemotherapy clinics.

Most do subspecialize to market for jobs at desirable places (GTA). I think most do end up seeing a selective set of patients because you pretty much work in a group out of cancer clinics at hospitals (either at designated cancer centres or just cancer clinics within a hospital). 
 

med onc is pretty much clinic only. You may cover inpatients if you work at regional cancer centres that typically have dedicated oncology wards but even then those wards are often staffed by hospitalists, so oncologists are rarely MRP (unless you really wanted to, most dont)

this also means theres practically no call responsibility - most cancer centres outsource these call shifts to locums or medicine anyways. And if youre not at cancer centres then definitely no call unless you love GIM.

yes med oncs are all IM and can do as much IM as they like if they like doing SMR work and get paid $$$ overnight not the shitty $2/hr during residency.

 

to summarize, MedOnc work at pretty much every major academic/community hospitals. It is purely outpatient clinic based. Clinics are funded by hospitals with nursing support. You don’t do call unless you want to. You don’t have to do IM unless you want to (sometimes may need to do some as part of the GIM pool). In terms of pay, I think most get alternate funding but may be ffs - i am not too sure about this part. 
 

the thing is in ontario, chemo has funding associated with it. Hospitals love things that have funding associated with it. Which means hospitals want to run chemo clinics. This means they need medical oncologists. So you’ll be treated well cuz u bring in money to hospitals. Unlike GIM where you spend that money brought in by cancer patients on old geriatric patients with multiple comorbidities who cant go home cuz they cant walk.

Just saw this, really appreciate the insight! Thanks