TY - JOUR
T1 - Enhancing career paths for tomorrow's radiation oncologists
AU - Vapiwala, Neha
AU - Thomas, Charles R.
AU - Grover, Surbhi
AU - Yap, Mei Ling
AU - Mitin, Timur
AU - Shulman, Lawrence N.
AU - Gospodarowicz, Mary K.
AU - Longo, John
AU - Petereit, Daniel G.
AU - Ennis, Ronald D.
AU - Hayman, James A.
AU - Rodin, Danielle
AU - Buchsbaum, Jeffrey C.
AU - Vikram, Bhadrasain
AU - Abdel-Wahab, May
AU - Epstein, Alan H.
AU - Okunieff, Paul
AU - Goldwein, Joel
AU - Kupelian, Patrick
AU - Weidhaas, Joanne B.
AU - Tucker, Margaret A.
AU - Boice, John D.
AU - Fuller, Clifton David
AU - Thompson, Reid F.
AU - Trister, Andrew D.
AU - Formenti, Silvia C.
AU - Barcellos-Hoff, Mary-Helen
AU - Jones, Joshua
AU - Dharmarajan, Kavita V.
AU - Zietman, Anthony L.
AU - Coleman, C. Norman
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The purpose for this manuscript is to enhance career opportunities for radiation oncologists (ROs) by expanding the scope of work as a prelude to redefining the scope of our contributions at this critical inflection point in our history. The direct stimulus is the speculation and debate over the ROs' future, a logical issue in today's rapidly changing world of health care economics, cancer biology, artificial intelligence, and global resource disparities. 123456 To be proactive and effective in adapting to—and with—these external factors, the data upon which decisions are based should be well understood. Yet accuracy of workforce forecasts for ROs are notoriously inconsistent, partly because of the imperfect assumptions inherent in such complex models. 1234 Nonetheless, over 50% of ROs are concerned about a future oversupply, 56 and the downstream effects already appear to have negatively affected specialty choice among highly talented and pragmatic medical students. Discussions of practitioner supply and demand imbalance often focus on the numerator—are there too many? Better solutions may reside in a broadening of the denominator—the talent and contributions that ROs bring to cancer care and greater society. 78 Regardless of how one views these complex issues, this is a critical juncture for exploring how to evolve ROs' skills and ensure that our contributions continue to help solve the challenges facing health care and patients.
AB - The purpose for this manuscript is to enhance career opportunities for radiation oncologists (ROs) by expanding the scope of work as a prelude to redefining the scope of our contributions at this critical inflection point in our history. The direct stimulus is the speculation and debate over the ROs' future, a logical issue in today's rapidly changing world of health care economics, cancer biology, artificial intelligence, and global resource disparities. 123456 To be proactive and effective in adapting to—and with—these external factors, the data upon which decisions are based should be well understood. Yet accuracy of workforce forecasts for ROs are notoriously inconsistent, partly because of the imperfect assumptions inherent in such complex models. 1234 Nonetheless, over 50% of ROs are concerned about a future oversupply, 56 and the downstream effects already appear to have negatively affected specialty choice among highly talented and pragmatic medical students. Discussions of practitioner supply and demand imbalance often focus on the numerator—are there too many? Better solutions may reside in a broadening of the denominator—the talent and contributions that ROs bring to cancer care and greater society. 78 Regardless of how one views these complex issues, this is a critical juncture for exploring how to evolve ROs' skills and ensure that our contributions continue to help solve the challenges facing health care and patients.
KW - oncologists
KW - professions
KW - radiation
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:52748
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2019.05.025
DO - 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2019.05.025
M3 - Article
SN - 0360-3016
VL - 105
SP - 52
EP - 63
JO - International Journal of Radiation Oncology , Biology , Physics
JF - International Journal of Radiation Oncology , Biology , Physics
IS - 1
ER -