Goals, Objectives, and Conferences
First 18 months of fellowship
The goals and objectives in the first half of the program include the initial and intensive introduction to diseases as outlined in the curriculum. Concurrently, fellows entering the program will begin to develop their clinical skills as a hematologist-oncologist under the supervision of attending hematologists-oncologists in the division. In addition to those goals stated above, the fellow will learn and develop:
- Role of the consultant in the inpatient and outpatient setting
- Communication skills with patients and their families, other physicians and other health care providers
- Skills in telephone triage and consultation while on call
- Professional relationships with patients in the continuity clinics under the guidance of preceptor
- Skills as teacher in both informal and formal teaching opportunities
- Scholarship skills in critical evaluation of the medical literature and promotion of life-long learning
- Possible area of focused clinical or basic research to be further developed in the second year
Second 18 months of fellowship – Clinical Track
Entering the second half of the program, the clinical fellow will continue to develop the objectives and skills from the first half. In addition, the second year will provide opportunities that include:
- Greater autonomy in teaching
- Involvement and training in clinical research
- Further specialization in a focused field within hematology-oncology
Second 18 months of fellowship - Research Track
Research fellows will devote most of their effort in their chosen research area under the supervision of designated mentor in either a bench or clinical research area. The educational goals will be determined by the mentor and fellow in the beginning of the research years and reassessed over the course of the project months on a regular basis. ABIM forms with written commentary will be used for this evaluation. During research time, the fellow will continue to have limited clinical responsibilities that include:
- One continuity clinic day per week
- Rotation in the on-call schedule
- Clinical electives as deemed appropriate by the mentor, fellowship director and division chief
- A mechanism for formal evaluation of fellow’s research exists
Conferences
Fellows Case Conference: Fellows present interesting and perplexing cases seen during the week and a brief (5-10 minute) review of the pertinent educational highlights of the case.
Journal Club: Fellows will take turns identifying a practice-changing manuscript to review at the weekly journal clubs.
Multidisciplinary Tumor Board(s): Fellows will attend and present cases at the multidisciplinary tumor boards on patients from specialty clinic rotations and services schedules. Attendance is encouraged in general but expected if your patient is on the agenda.
Grand Rounds: Each fellow is expected to give one Hematology-Oncology Grand Rounds presentation to the division during the second and third years of training.
Academic Half-day: Faculty members are invited to provide didactic education at these monthly activities organized by chief fellows.