December 2011

What is mentorship? The term "mentor" originates with the mythological character Mentor, with whom Odysseus entrusted his son, Telemachus. Mentor was responsible for educating and instilling values in Telemachus when Odysseus departed for the Trojan War.

When my alarm goes off at 5:30 am, I wake up prepared to play many roles. Juggling family life with 2 young children, caring for my patients as a fellow, and pursuing scholarly activities leaves little free time.

Providing medical care to patients in the hospital setting has become increasingly complicated. Large amounts of clinical data need to be processed, and new rules governing resident and fellow hours have resulted in fragmented care.

The movement towards digitization is being driven by regulatory and governmental authorities, with the aim to increase accessibility to information, reduce errors, and improve compliance with quality and performance measures.

Trainees have sat in this hot seat at the front of the room for decades. It's not really warm, of course. This is where the fellow sits who is asked to review the findings, come up with a differential diagnosis, and devise a plan for the case in question.

Like all the other skills you've honed so finely over the years, interviewing can be mastered with the help of some solid tips, ample preparation, and a good dose of practice.

You might be struck by the seemingly odd distribution of oncology salaries in the United States. Why would oncologists in the Mid-Atlantic region, where the cost of living is relatively high, have lower median salaries than the North Central region, where the cost of living is lower?

While debt from medical school loans is inevitable for most oncology and hematology fellows, there are strategies they can consider to lessen that burden.