Most high yield way to learn Hem/onc (2024)

I'm a first year hem/onc fellow.

What resources can I use to learn clinical aspect of onc?

I looked at ASCO-SAP and felt it was too convoluted. Is there anything similar to First Aid?

Something with a lot of tables and concise algorithms?

Nope.

Just like in residency....read about your patients.
NCCN Guidelines
Hopefully your program has a series of "bootcamp" style fellows lectures early in the year.

buying said:

Any Board reviews or Question banks to help us prepare for heme/Onc ITE??

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ASCO-SEP. ASH has a similar one but I didn't board in Heme so I don't remember the name of it.

But honestly, I'd go into the first one cold. Figure out your baseline.

CD15 said:

I'm a first year hem/onc fellow.

What resources can I use to learn clinical aspect of onc?

I looked at ASCO-SAP and felt it was too convoluted. Is there anything similar to First Aid?

Something with a lot of tables and concise algorithms?

Click to expand...

Hemoncreview d o t com is a new website? Might be what you're looking for.

RadSki said:

Hemoncreview d o t com is a new website? Might be what you're looking for.

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It's not new. I used it to study for boards 4 years ago (and have mentioned it multiple times here). It's pretty decent. And a bargain at twice the price.

gutonc said:

ASCO-SEP. ASH has a similar one but I didn't board in Heme so I don't remember the name of it.

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ASH-SAP.

gutonc said:

It's not new. I used it to study for boards 4 years ago (and have mentioned it multiple times here). It's pretty decent. And a bargain at twice the price.

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Hemoncreview qbank is new, it is made by faculty from Stanford and Utah and looks like it was started in 2017.

Hem Onc Qbank (HOQ) which sounds similar, is run by a Johns Hopkins faculty. The latter is cheaper and also has really good questions.

RainerMaria said:

Hemoncreview qbank is new, it is made by faculty from Stanford and Utah and looks like it was started in 2017.

Hem Onc Qbank (HOQ) which sounds similar, is run by a Johns Hopkins faculty. The latter is cheaper and also has really good questions.

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Yup there are two main question banks. I'm somewhat familiar with both as, although I work mostly in private, I'm affiliated with the university nearby (sort of) and I work preparing fellows for boards there. each question bank has its own pros and cons (P.S I'm not affiliated with either one in any way or shape or form... I just use them now to help create a curriculum)

-The John Hopkins one is good (I used it myself to prepare for boards) and overall more focused on high yield questions but the website is clumsy and not very user friendly.There's no way to track progress or go back to incorrectly answered questions or marked questions ..etc. Also no way to customize tests or number of questions. It's divided by categories of diseases and some blocks have 10 questions and others have 50. Also you can easily tell that it's all written by one person. It does have quite a bit of esoteric questions that are not relevant for boards or practice and they're more like trivia which I always failed to understand their purpose. Some topics are not well represented (BMT and cancer research methodology come to mind) and are relevant for the boards.

- The other one (hemonc review ?? I think) is more user friendly and the website is very well designed. easy to track and go back to questions. It's more expensive. The explanations are mostly very well written with linked references. I do not like most of their questions though. I found them different from board questions in style and material. A lot of questions ask specifics about mOS or %PFS or %path CR after chemo or specific details about staging ..etc. like in a ridiculous way as in: is the 5 year survival to this regimen 35% or 45%? Also in some of their explanations they use data from single institution studies to prove their point. This is never the case on your boards. There're some good questions of course.

just my 2 cents

MDPhDyeah said:

Any suggestions for an MS4 who is doing an oncology elective? Would something like pocket oncology be good to have for the rotation? Would the MDA manual for medical oncology be reasonable to get for reading during the rotation? Any other suggestions? Thanks!

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no no none of that. just show up on time and read up on the cases assigned to you. Those resources are not for medical students.

visari said:

no no none of that. just show up on time and read up on the cases assigned to you. Those resources are not for medical students.

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Thank you!

To pass heme:

Read ASH-SAP twice (10 pages/day x 2 months = 1 go around) starting January of third year
Do ASH-SAP questions (good representation)
GW-hematology audios (go through it twice), start the January of third year

By the time June rolls around, you will be ready for the test. Unfortunately, you'll probably be starting work and won't have as much time to study - use weekends for touching up of the board review.

Onc was harder than heme for me.

CD15 said:

I'm a first year hem/onc fellow.

What resources can I use to learn clinical aspect of onc?

I looked at ASCO-SAP and felt it was too convoluted. Is there anything similar to First Aid?

Something with a lot of tables and concise algorithms?

Click to expand...

To your original point, I'd recommend checking out Pocket Oncology by Postow and Drilon. I've used it for 2 years now (onto the second edition) and if you have any semblance of ADHD like me, and get glazed eyes when reading paragraphs on UTD, this book is a helpful birds eye view of what's going on, topic by topic. The pharmacology and CUP sections are amazing. But, it's not perfect (relatively weak on benign heme, e.g., there is nothing on aplastic anemia), and it's not all that up to date (for example, this year's NSCLC chapter didn't even include the 2017 FLAURA trial), but it is very visually pleasing, with a lot of bullets and a lot of tables. Recc kindle version so you can search on the app or on cloud reader, as you are seeing patients -- and allows you to notate as you go with recent abstracts or editorials (e.g., Journal Watch Hem-Onc) And then to do a deep dive then use ASCO SEP, NCCN guidelines, or, gulp, the primary articles!