About the Course
DrNB Medical oncology is a 3 year super specialty course post MD/ DNB (Gen Medicine / Pediatrics / Radiation oncology) in which students are trained practically and also academically in a complete integrated manner to attain skills on treating a cancer patient in a way of personalized oncological practice. The Medical Oncology Department at Sri Shankara Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Bangalore treats more than 150-200 patients every day with rare, complex and common cancers. The hospital is located in the heart of the city and receives referrals from across Karnataka and nearby state. In addition to learning from highly experienced faculty, the candidate will benefit from rigirous academic sessions and access to state of the art research laboratories and rotation with the Hemato Oncology and Bone MarrowTtransplantation unit.
Course Objectives
The course integrates the following practices in the three year curriculum of the DrNB candidate
1. Basic Scientific Principles - The trainee should have clear concepts regarding the basic principles of Biology of normal cells, basic processes of carcinogenesis, gene structure, expression and regulation, cell cycle and interaction with therapy, tumor cell kinetics, tumor cell proliferation, tumor immunology and molecular techniques.
2. Basic Principles in the Management and Treatment of Malignant Diseases - The trainee should be thorough with the basic principles of malignant disease management including clear understanding of pathologic techniques, serum markers, cell membrane and DNA markers, TNM staging systems, Indications for clinical, radiographic and nuclear medicine procedures, response assessment.
3. Management and Treatment of Individual Cancers including Head and neck, Lung, Gastrointestinal, genitourinary, gynecological, breast, mesenchymal, skin, endocrine, neurological, hematological and pediatric malignancies and their associated complications including the multidisciplinary approach with integration of the various sub-specialties because of increasing complexity of modern treatment.
4. Psychosocial Aspects of Cancer - The trainee should become skillful in handling cultural issues, spiritual conflicts, adaptive behavior, coping mechanisms and more importantly communication which includes the disease prognosis, treatment plan and the complications involved including options of various new targeted therapies.
5. Patient Education - The trainee should learn to consciously involve in educating the patients in matters of genetic counseling (screening and assessment of risk), health maintenance (Diet, smoking, alcohol consumption), long term complications, risk of treatment induced cancer, endocrine dysfunctions. Communication Trainees should be able to communicate to patient and their family. They should be able to break bad news and act adequately in difficult situations.
6. Bioethics, Legal, and Economic Issues - The trainee should be fully proficient in dealing with issues of taking informed consent for research activities, ethical conduct of medical research, legal issues (Life support and its withdrawal), cost efficiency and professional attitude
7. Skills - During the training period the trainee should imbibe and develop the skills of anticancer agent administration (Prescribing, administering, Handling and disposal of chemotherapeutic and biologic agents), clinical procedures (bone marrow aspiration, biopsy, lumbar punctures, abdominal and thoracic paracentesis), ommaya reservoir management, central line, chemoport and PICC line insertion and management.
8. Community responsibilities - He should be well versed with community aspects of cancer screening including cancer registry and other aspects of preventive oncology. He should become competent to plan and implement community intervention strategies and should be well trained to link up with the existing health care system and be able to address screening, early detection and health awareness issues.
9. Constant Development - He should be aware of the recent developments in the field of Medical Oncology, chemotherapeutics, preventive oncology, molecular biology. Clinical Research including Statistics Trainees must be provided an education in the design and conduct of clinical trials, statistical methods, role and functioning of the Institutional Review Board and ethical committees, preparing abstracts, oral and visual presentations and writing articles.
More Information
Towards the completion of the course, 1. The candidate will be capable of assessing the patient's co-morbid medical conditions that may affect the toxicity and efficacy of treatment in order to formulate a treatment plan and be aware of the special conditions which influence the treatment of the growing population of elderly patients with malignant disorders.
2. Pathology/Laboratory Medicine/Molecular Biology: The trainee will know the definite diagnosis of cancer and integrating the reports of imaging, pathology and molecular biology in formulating prognosis and treatment including the newer techniques that are emerging.
3. Trainees will be aware of the appropriate testing - tumour markers, imaging and intervals for follow-up.
5. Trainee will know the requirements for obtaining informed consent.
6. The trainee will be able to understand the Bioethics, Legal, and Economic Issues of Oncology and ethics involved in the conduct of medical research.
Course Faculty
Dr. Sandhya Appachu M
Dr. Sai Vivek V
Dr. Tanusree Paul
Dr. Vijaisimha