Rad Onc Palliative Care Fellowship

[RadOnc04]

Hi Everyone

Medical student who recently matched Radiation Oncology. I have an interest in Palliative Care. However, I do not see many Radiation Oncologists fellowship trained in this field.

Furthermore, I often do not see Radiation Oncology listed as a requisite residency (like IM, PM&R, etc) eligible to head into Palliative care.

Any one with any experience and/or insight coming into this field with a Rad Onc background would be appreciated

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[qnht]

The American Board of Radiology is one of the ten sponsoring boards for Hospice and Palliative Medicine and so board eligible and board certified Diagnostic Radiologists and Radiation Oncologists may do a Palliative Medicine Fellowship if the training institution wishes to take these candidates. Many programs focus on IM and FP, but some focus on others, like PEDS or PMR. If you are interested in palliative medicine, UC Davis has opened the fellowship to all ten subspecialties, including Radiology.

For more information, visit:
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/internalmedicine/pulmonary/palliative_care_fellowship/index.html

 

[qnht]

For the UC Davis Hospice and Palliative Medicine Program
Website is:
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/internalmedicine/pulmonary/palliative_care_fellowship/index.html

Or visit the shortened URL:
http://goo.gl/PBFyA

 

[darkelven29]

That's a good one. I would love to see radiation oncologists go into this field.

I think palliative care adds a great deal of skillset to practicing oncologists (surg onc, med onc, rad onc, gyn onc....) It teaches a lot of psychosocial, patient values, and communications in addition to medical knowledge related to the dying process.

But I really don't see radiation oncologists spending extra palliative care time in their clinic visits or running a hospice service in addition to their money-making 10 sessions of radiation therapy for each metastatic cancer patient, and rad onc docs are extremely busy already (at least on weekdays).

 

[myhandsarecold]

That's a good one. I would love to see radiation oncologists go into this field.

I think palliative care adds a great deal of skillset to practicing oncologists (surg onc, med onc, rad onc, gyn onc....) It teaches a lot of psychosocial, patient values, and communications in addition to medical knowledge related to the dying process.

But I really don't see radiation oncologists spending extra palliative care time in their clinic visits or running a hospice service in addition to their money-making 10 sessions of radiation therapy for each metastatic cancer patient, and rad onc docs are extremely busy already (at least on weekdays).

You'd be surprised. We have a staff rad onc and radiologist graduate from palliative fellowship. I did palliative as an intern and liked it, pretty straightforward, a nice break, direct patient care. I will actually consider it myself. Plan on doing some interventional pain in the future. Also, would be nice to have palliative docs who are comfortable performing palliative-related procedures like thoracentesis, paracentesis, drains, catheters...

 

[Ursus Martimus]

I am a radiation oncologist, who recently became board certified in Hospice and Palliative care medicine. Last year was the last year to sit for the exam to grandfather in without doing a fellowship. A significant portion of my business is pallaitive. I see the radiation oncologist as an important memeber of an interdisciplinary team. Radiation has significant palliative benefits. Unfortunately, once enrolled in hospice, the per deim rate essentially precludes radiation, given the cost. The key is to be involved early and provide palliation prior to enrolling in hospice. As well, there may be room at the legislative level to investigate whether radiation could be exempt if used for palliation in the hospice patient. This however is a big project.

 

[qnht]

Palliative medicine is inherently interdisciplinary and interprofessional. I am BC in IM, Medical Oncology, and Palliative Medicine. I find that I often rely on my team members (SW, Chaplaincy, Psychology, Pharmacy, NP, RN, etc.), but I also rely heavily on others (Surg Onc, Rad Onc, Anesthesia/Pain, IM subspecialties, IR, and the list goes on) in order to optimize patient care. As an example, I have a Nuc Med colleague who has the greatest approach with patients and often helps me for very specialized pain cases that need his services - so yes, palliative nuclear medicine. I would not discourage anyone who is interested in palliative medicine from doing a fellowship.
QNHT
http://goo.gl/PBFyA