Lastly, this is a historic time in oncology. Over the last 15 years, things are happening that I never thought I would live to see. Some patients who 10 or 15 years ago would have had an expected survival of 6 to 9 months are now living years. We are now at a point where we might not actually know a patient’s prognosis, which introduces a whole other layer of uncertainty in cancer. Working as a psychiatrist during this time of rapidly evolving care is amazing. Cancer care will look very different over the next decade.
Dr. Ahmed: Based on your personal experience, what should one consider when choosing a psychiatric oncology program?
Dr. Pirl: I trained in a time before CL was a certified subspecialty of psychiatry. At that time, programs could focus solely on cancer, which cannot be done now. Trainees need to have broader training in certified fellowships. If someone knows that they are interested in psychiatric oncology, there are 2 programs that they should consider: the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute track of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital CL fellowship, and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center/New York Hospital CL fellowship. However, completing a CL fellowship will give someone the skills to do this work, even though they may not know all of the cancer content yet.
Dr. Ahmed: What are some of the career options and work settings in psychiatric oncology?
Dr. Pirl: There are many factors that make it difficult for psychiatrist to have a psychiatric oncology private practice. The amount of late cancellations and no-shows because of illness makes it hard to do this work without some institutional subsidy. Also, being able to communicate and work as a team with oncology providers is much easier if you are in the same place. Most psychiatrists who do psychiatric oncology work in a cancer center or hospital. Practice settings at those places include both inpatient and outpatient work. There is also a shortage of psychiatrists doing this work, which makes it easier to get a job and to advance into leadership roles.
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