questions about field

[sk678]

heyyy guys.....a few questions about this field.......for a prospective applicant.....

1. dont you feel that its a little scary that this field was so non competattive and now it is the most competative, its kind of difficult for one to assess whether they are jumping on the bandwagon or not.....but the whole issue kind of scares me


2. is it possible to REALLY know how one will handle a career in an oncologic field emotionally, despite the nobility of the work

3.if one is applying now, and is confined to a state, ny, in my case, shouldnt they be considered even now regarding finding a job......even though its a good job market, sinceth field is so small, finding a job with a huge geographical bias i imagine is not so easy

4. although, it does not look (90%) that the role of radiation will either stay the same or increase, there is i imagine a ???10%? maybe chance that the role may change, and if 10% means changing fields or not finding a job, even 10% may be a lot, dont you guys think?

thats about it.......i would love to have some help with any of these questions if anyone wants to jump in..........these are just questions from someone who wants to know, not meant in an argumetative way...thanx a bunch

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[AnnK73]

Here are my thoughts on your questions:
I think that the upswing in rad onc compeiteness really reflects the trend tword "lifestyle" specialties. Esp lifestyle specialties where you make more money. I dont think that there is anything really worrisome to me from that perspective. I also think that there is a momentum factor where more people hear about it and get interested, etc. I also think that it is a exciting time for rad onc. Txt is much more conformal than it used to be and there is more information from advanced imaging coming.
I do think that you would be more geographically limited in radonc than other fields but i would think that you could find a private practice position in new york if that was your goal.
As for handling oncology, I think that you can get a feel for that pretty quick. Some people find it depressing - Ive never felt that way about oncology. I think that doing a couple oncology rotations gives you a pretty good feel for your reaction.
As for the future of rad onc, thats been discussed here before. Oncology is definatly a fast moving field, and rad onc quite stably had a big role. Theres lots of exciting research in radonc too. I dont think that things will change that fast. But if they do, that would mean a major breakthrough in cancer treatment. Id be okay with switching to a more research based career or doing another residency or something if that happened. I really dont think that it will happen in our careers tho, unfortunately.
Maybe other people have different thoughts.

 

[sk678]

thanks for your very thoughtful response, i appreciate it......i guess im not as happy to do another residency.........but i would join you in the excitement for ANY new or more effective treatments in an oncologic specialty. I would appreicate any other responses to this as well, please chime in!