Pt Contact

[maswe12]

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I'm a third year that is interested in oncology. The prospect of doing a medicine residency to do medonc is depressing me. For some reason I had not considered radonc prior to a few weeks ago, but now that I am starting to, I am getting more and more exciting. One thing I was wondering was about the patient contact with rad onc. Do you develop the same type or relationships with them as you would as their medical oncologist? I have always felt (wrongly I believe) that it is the med onc that is involved with the counseling and overall care of the person. For those of you in practice, have you noticed that rad oncs provide the same type of care? Forgive my naivete, I just would like a better idea of the field before my rotation next year. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[deleted4401]

I think that is a good question, and not naive at all. I'm still learning about that. I think I am realizing that your level of interest in your patient and the time you spend with them will dictate your role as their oncologist. We don't have an inpatient service, so if your patient is in house, and you stop by, you will make an impression, and add to your role. If you spend enough time with patients during the consult and your on-treatment visits are more than cursory once-overs and if you schedule follow-ups, you will be more likely considered their oncologist. If you spend five minutes with them during the initial consult, leave follow-ups to the med-onc, and don't stop by when they are admitted, then you will be more of a technician. But because the med-onc and surg-onc generally see the patient before we do (at least at the center I'm at), we have to make an extra effort.

-S

 

[stephew]

i agree with simul; youre not naive if youre asking the right questions and you are; youre just on the steep part of thenormal learning curve. The answer to your question is complex in reality but comes down to the sort of care youre doing. some patient will be palliative patients and in these cases often a medonc (usually) is the primary with the long standing relationship with the patient. But for the definitive care patients, you are as much the primary as the medonc (sometimes its not med onc but say, neuro-onc or surg onc who's also involved). The balance depends upon the specific cancer- some are more radonc owned like prostate or general GU cancers, than others (lung) . also it depends upon the doc.

I'm a third year that is interested in oncology. The prospect of doing a medicine residency to do medonc is depressing me. For some reason I had not considered radonc prior to a few weeks ago, but now that I am starting to, I am getting more and more exciting. One thing I was wondering was about the patient contact with rad onc. Do you develop the same type or relationships with them as you would as their medical oncologist? I have always felt (wrongly I believe) that it is the med onc that is involved with the counseling and overall care of the person. For those of you in practice, have you noticed that rad oncs provide the same type of care? Forgive my naivete, I just would like a better idea of the field before my rotation next year. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Adawaal]

Great answers from Steph and Simul. I frequently find myself using free time to make "social rounds" and visit my patients who happen to be in the hospital, even if they're not currently on treatment. Many times our patients will think of us as their "oncologist" more than they see the Med Onc in that way. Why? I dunno. Perhaps because we have more time to spend with them. Maybe because they see us on a daily basis (maybe not officially, but we're always visible and say hello) when they're on treatment while their "chemo doc" sees them every week or two and then often only the NP or PA at that. Maybe because we're ALWAYS in our department, so it's easier for them to find us than the Med Onc to talk over issues.