Generalists: What tumor boards do you attend?

[Krukenberg]

Have been giving thought to the amount of time that would be required to attend multiple specialty tumor boards. I want to advocate for the use of radiation and make a name for myself, but there are only so many hours in the week. Which do you attend, and how’d you decide which to skip?

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[OTN]

I attend all of them except for heme and Gyn- my partner sees all our gyn patients, and I will attend heme if the presenters tell me they will need RO input for a case.

2x GI, 2x breast, 2x neuro, one head and neck, one general conference, and one thoracic.

It's common for me to have 5+ tumor boards in a week.

 

[mheat3]

I attend two breast and a couple general. Usually averages 2-3 per week.

 

[Mandelin Rain]

5 hours/week. all sites.

 

[RickyScott]

Have been giving thought to the amount of time that would be required to attend multiple specialty tumor boards. I want to advocate for the use of radiation and make a name for myself, but there are only so many hours in the week. Which do you attend, and how’d you decide which to skip?

If possible attend all tumor boards.

 

[medgator]

If possible attend all tumor boards.

Can't emphasize this enough, esp if you are starting out.

Post covid this is easier in many places with virtual options through webex, microsoft teams etc.

Tumor boards give you visibility and a chance to show your stuff. The pathologists and radiologists may hate being there but that's how you eat, brotha

 

[tomhobbes]

We are a three physician practice. We all attend as many as possible (breast, GI, GU, thoracic, HN, gyn, CNS) except heme. Different one each morning of the week ~7:15-7:30 AM start lasting for 60-75 minutes. Some of the sites are paired together into the same tumor board. Gyn and GU are the only two sites we divvy up amongst ourselves due to scheduling conflicts.

 

[Palex80]

I attend GI, GU and lymphoma. I am backup for neuro and thoracic. I'd say about 3-4 hours per week in total.

 

[FrostyHammer]

My mantra: attend only those tumor boards which have referring docs who are capable of being pro radiation. Those with hemeoncs/surgeons that will never give radiation a fair shake, you're not missing much.

 

[RadOncDoc21]

My mantra: attend only those tumor boards which have referring docs who are capable of being pro radiation. Those with hemeoncs/surgeons that will never give radiation a fair shake, you're not missing much.

So true, however in the COVID era, one could just “attend” all tumor boards remotely. Since some of these tumor boards are not helpful, I can still argue that I do attend them just in case admin ever wanted to bring something up while not wasting any time working from my office.

Now a days, I don’t find tumor boards to be helpful for my practice and many of them are just a cesspool of the same echo chambers who have been working together for 20-40 years. If I want a multi-d discussion, I usually just talk to the docs myself.

 

[Mandelin Rain]

My mantra: attend only those tumor boards which have referring docs who are capable of being pro radiation. Those with hemeoncs/surgeons that will never give radiation a fair shake, you're not missing much.

The ones where the referrings dislike radiation are the best. You don't really care if you offend them because they aren't sending patients anyway. Then, on Friday night, after they've treated a cord compression with 8th line chemo and failed... they'll call someone else.

 

[elementaryschooleconomics]

The ones where the referrings dislike radiation are the best. You don't really care if you offend them because they aren't sending patients anyway. Then, on Friday night, after they've treated a cord compression with 8th line chemo and failed... they'll call someone else.

"8th line chemo? Those are rookie numbers son, you gotta pump those numbers up"

 

[thecarbonionangle]

A lot of tumor boards are a total cesspool of egos.