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Straddling medical specialties: should we have more comprehensive advanced training?
Author(s) -
Learoyd Diana L.,
Clarke Stephen J.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
internal medicine journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 1444-0903
DOI - 10.1111/imj.14278
Subject(s) - medicine , referral , straddle , patient care , medical education , medical physics , oncology , family medicine , nursing , finance , economics
Over careers spanning 35 years each, we have witnessed great advances in medicine especially in genetics, imaging, immunotherapies and targeted cancer therapies. Our respective specialties of endocrinology and medical oncology have come to overlap significantly necessitating better communication and skills across both specialties. We will highlight common scenarios that straddle endocrinology and medical oncology. The same broad issues apply to other closely related specialties, albeit with different clinical challenges. At present, we see expensive and inefficient cross‐referrals to other subspecialists or sometimes no referral at all, leading to significant clinical omissions. Opportunities for dual advanced training, or for more comprehensive single advanced training could more efficiently lead to enhanced patient care and communication.