Is Rad Onc depressing?

[spaceprobe]

Hi there,

 

I am wondering if rad oncology would be a depressing specialty because you are constantly dealing with cancer patients......many of whom will succumb to their cancer under your care.

 

Is this a turn-off for applying to this specialty?

[Lactic Folly]

Well, not all your patients will be palliative (eg locally advanced cancers), and there are other areas of medicine that also involve terminal conditions, medicine/surgery/ICU coming to mind. Whether or not working with cancer patients is depressing is going to be a personal issue.. I'd suggest some shadowing/electives to see if this is the case for you. Being able to palliate someone's suffering can be very rewarding.

[spaceprobe]

would 2 week electives in rad onc be enough to know the program and obtain good reference letters? I heard 2 weeks is plenty in some specialties, but is definitely not enough in other specialties. Unfortunately, I don't have many elective weeks....so trying to get around the country doing electives is difficult, especially if electives are longer than 2 weeks.

 

Also, is rad onc a competitive program to enter?

[TwinTurbo]

would 2 week electives in rad onc be enough to know the program and obtain good reference letters? I heard 2 weeks is plenty in some specialties, but is definitely not enough in other specialties. Unfortunately, I don't have many elective weeks....so trying to get around the country doing electives is difficult, especially if electives are longer than 2 weeks.

 

Also, is rad onc a competitive program to enter?

i would say to get decent letters in the field, you'd need to spend a min 4 weeks.

 

as for competitiveness, it varies from yr to yr in canada but in the states it is consistently insanely competitive. nrmp stats for 2008 would place rad onc at #3 in terms of num of us grads that don't match (behind plastics and derm).

[spaceprobe]

4 weeks would be great, but unfortunately I would have practically no space to do electives in other fields i'm interested in. Do rad oncs want all rad onc reference letters? Would they accept letters from physicians in other fields (without penalty)?

 

Also, although rad onc is very appealing to me, I keep hearing that jobs are hard to come by. Is this true?

 

Unfortunately (for me), I am not interested in going anywhere just to find a job. I'm mainly interested in being near and around my family when I finally finish training and get a job. Does a goal like this basically make Rad Onc a very stressful field to enter and thus a field that is not recommended for me (ie. stress in regards to trying to get into the school(s) I want, since it is a small program, and then continued stress in terms of getting a job in the city I want)?

[Lactic Folly]

I'm not familiar with radiation oncology specifically, but generally, what is most important is the quality of the relationship you have with your referee which will reflected in your letter - i.e. a 4 week elective will not be of value solely due to its length if you cannot spend enough quality time with one person. CaRMS does state that referees should have worked with you for 2 weeks as a guideline.

 

I know it can be difficult to get specialty-specific letters. A lot of their value can be due to name recognition and personal connections in a small field. I'd say one is ideal, more is a bonus (if they are good), but strong letters from people who know you well are also helpful. Some programs tend to prefer letters from more challenging rotations such as medicine and surgery. Check the CaRMS program directory for info on the programs that interest you.

 

If practicing radiation oncology basically means you have to be at a cancer centre, that is something you will have to consider and balance vs family/geography.. not easy, but not limited to careers in medicine. Good luck.

[007]

In my opinion, 4 weeks is too long to be spending on any elective in 4th year. 2 weeks is good enough for a letter and 3 weeks is better, although this is only if you're working with one physician long enough for them to comment on your performance. A lot of electives you end up doing clinic (for example) a different physician each day. Rad onc might be a bit different as I have the sense that the departments are a bit smaller.