advice

[cyberknife]

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hey everyone,

as you can probably tell from the number of posts (n=0), i'm new to SDN. i just started my M4 year of med school and applying for rad onc residency this summer.

i've been reading through the threads in the rad onc section and have gotten well informed. i just started my rad onc sub-i at my school and am doing an away rotation next month.

i had 2 dumb questions, but hopefully will help others applying into the field and doing their 4 year rad onc electives.

1. as a resident, how critical is it to know AJCC staging inside-out?

2. if you had to pick 1 book in each category (clinical and physics) to know inside out by the end of first year of rad onc residency, what would they be?

thanks

 

[Gfunk6]

I agree with wag27. Staging is important but I wouldn't go whole-hog memorizing staging for every single subsite because (a) it is low-yield and (b) if you don't use your memorized staging on a regular basis you will lose it.

As for books, I think they are overrated. First off, they tend to be out of date due to the rapidly evolving nature of our field and secondly they are a pain to lug around (consider chopping up the chapters and placing them in sprial bound "booklets"). Physics is important to learn as a first year so keep up with your reading assignments for your didactics.

I highly recommend studying whichever subsite you are currently treating in depth. That way the info will be relevant and it will stick in your mind better.

 

[cyberknife]

thanks everyone. very helpful tips. obviously all of this is very far away, but it never hurts to start reading, especially since i'll be spending the next few months on rad onc sub-i's.

so i'll try to buy one book - hopefully helpful not only for sub-i's, but also one that i can use as an "initial" book for residency...

given that books are $$$$ and i want to buy only one solid clinical text for the time being, is knowing hanson/roach (or hafty) cover-2-cover during your first year of residency considered a solid "textbook" foundation for things such as in-service?

 

[gorgias]

Geeze, if you can memorize that thing during your first year what are you going to do the other 3 years of residency?

Publish?

 

[cyberknife]

thanks everyone. i appreciate your help.

for the current residents - is Perez and Brady the best book to buy as a first year resident? or Gunerderson/Tepper (clinical radiation oncology)? my current attending said he can help subsidize the cost of buying one of these books?

anyone have a preference? or are they different? thanks!!

 

[Gfunk6]

anyone have a preference? or are they different? thanks!!

I would suggest purchasing whichever textbook does NOT feature authors from your own institution. I say this, because it's nice to have a fresh perspective when you read.

If this is a non-issue then just buy the newest one.