Hematology Oncology Fellowship

Welcome from the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program Director

Welcome to the Orlando Health Hematology/Oncology fellowship program. We are pleased that you are considering a hematology/oncology fellowship with us. Our program received accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in 2006, and our first two fellows started in July 2007. Our fellows flourish in an atmosphere of excellent clinical care.

We are observing rapid growth at all activity levels in our center, which is having a positive effect on our fellowship program. Additionally, Central Florida is experiencing rapid growth in medical science with the new medical school at the University of Central Florida.

Throughout this site, you’ll find descriptions of the program, participating hospitals, application materials, and program requirements.

If you have questions, please contact Deborah Lawhorn, academic program coordinator, at [email protected] or call 321.841.6608.

We look forward to receiving your application to join us.

Sincerely,

Said M. Baidas, MD
Fellowship Program Director

Description of Clinical Duties

• Outpatient Clinic
  

  The clinic operates Monday through Friday. First year oncology fellows are assigned to groups of attending physicians (also called an attending) and see patients in clinic all week for six months. To ensure continuity of care, fellows rotate in two-month blocks. Second year hematology fellows are in clinic for a total of four half-days per week for six months, including one year long continuity clinic. Third year fellows have four half-days clinic per week for 8 months. All fellows will start a continuity clinic at the beginning of their training that continues for three years.

  Each fellow is assigned a group of patients at the beginning of each two-month clinic rotation. Each fellow works with the nursing staff and attendings in all aspect of their care. This team approach will give fellows a sense of responsibility of their patients as well as one-to-one contact with attendings, each of whom will provide assistance when needed. Each attending focuses on a specialized aspect of oncology/hematology, and a fundamental goal of this fellowship is to give fellows the opportunity to gain as much knowledge as possible. Even though the clinic can become hectic, it represents an unparalleled opportunity for spontaneous instruction in the clinical and research aspects of oncology. 

• Chemotherapy Infusion Unit
  

  Outpatient chemotherapy and blood component therapy is administered through the Ambulatory Treatment Center on the fifth floor. Patients on active outpatient treatments are first evaluated in the clinic, where their counts are checked, flow sheets are updated, and chemotherapy orders are written. Please note that the attending physician must review and co-sign all chemotherapy orders. Ideally, this should be the attending that has primary responsibility for the patient. In addition, all patients must sign an informed consent prior to each new chemotherapy regimen, and a copy of this consent should always be on the patient’s outpatient clinic chart.

• Medical Oncology and Hematology Ward Services
  

  The inpatient ward fellow is responsible for supervising day-to-day care of patients as well as providing chemotherapy orders and consent forms when appropriate. Admission notes and daily progress notes are required on all patients.

  Inpatient fellows must be available to present patient information when the attending starts inpatient rounds.

  The inpatient services are often active rotations. The 8th floor is the only dedicated hematology/oncology unit, but there is often overflow onto other medical floors. It is the ward fellow’s responsibility to prioritize and approve scheduled admissions. This requires constant communication between the inpatient ward attending, patient’s outpatient attending and, charge nurses on the floors, and the admissions officers. Patients requiring chemotherapy must be admitted to the hematology/oncology unit as they will require specialized care of nurses trained in chemotherapy administration. All other patients should be triaged and placed accordingly.

• Medical Oncology and Hematology Inpatient Consult Services
  

  The medical oncology consult service is covered by the inpatient oncology fellow; the hematology consult service is covered by the hematology inpatient fellow. These teams must promptly respond to new consults received on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Attending physicians and fellows on call, on the other hand, are responsible for emergent consults received during on-call hours. As with the other services, the fellow has the primary responsibility for seeing patients, reviewing records and films and presenting data to the consult attending. Frequently patients are also admitted to the hospitalist service, with which fellows should establish a close working relationship as we function as a consult service to patients admitted under their care.

• Bone Marrow Transplant Unit
  

  One hematology fellow is assigned to BMT for two months, which includes coverage of inpatient and outpatient BMT services, as well as participation in bone marrow harvests.

  It is expected that each fellow will spend the rotation for bone marrow transplant at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. This time will be scheduled as consecutive months. Travel and housing arrangements will be planned in advance with the help of administrators at both centers.

• Admission Process
  

  Many patients are scheduled at routine intervals for inpatient systemic chemotherapy. These patients are commonly evaluated in the clinic immediately before the day of admission. Ideally chemotherapy orders are written by the clinic fellow, co-signed by the patient’s outpatient attending. If the admitting process proceeds in an organized fashion, the pharmacy should receive signed chemotherapy orders 24 hours prior to a patient’s arrival on the inpatient unit.

  Also, the inpatient fellow is responsible for coordinating direct admissions from home, transfers from other medical facilities, and urgent admissions from either the outpatient clinic or the fifth floor chemotherapy unit.

• Responsibilities of the Third Year Fellows
  

  The senior year of fellowship is dedicated toward research, self-development and outpatient care consisting of four half-days of clinic per week. Each fellow is expected to develop a project and select one of the attendings in the division as a research mentor. Individual third year schedules are developed with the assistance of the fellowship director, who will ensure all of these requirements are met with satisfaction.

On-Call Coverage for Hematology/ Oncology

While on call, fellows cover both hematology and oncology services from home. Fellows are responsible for triaging patient telephone calls as well as answering medical issues on in-patient service when the staff requires assistance. The hematology and oncology on-call attendings are available all the time to provide assistance to fellows as needed.

Calls are divided into two categories, weekday (Monday – Thursday) and weekend (Friday – Sunday) calls.

Vacation and Sick Leave

Each fellow is entitled to three weeks paid vacation. All vacations must be scheduled in advance with the chief fellow and program director to provide appropriate coverage. No two fellows in the same year may take vacation at the same time. No vacations should be scheduled during inpatient or consult rotations.

In the event of illness, it is the fellow’s responsibility to inform the chief fellow of the problem. Coverage arrangements for inpatients and outpatients will be made on an ad-hoc basis for unexpected absences.

Application Information

What You Need to Know to Apply

The Application Process

You should apply for the Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Program through ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service). ERAS is an Internet-based application process developed by the Association of American Medical Colleges to transmit fellowship applications, letters of recommendation, program director letters, medical transcripts and other supporting credentials from applicants, residency programs and medical schools to fellowship program directors using the Internet. For information about the process or to register for ERAS online, visit www.aamc.org/eras.

Matching with the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program

The Hematology/Oncology program participates in the National Residency Match Program’s Medical Specialties Matching Program (MSMP) in Hematology/Oncology. This is a computerized venue for matching applicant’s preferences for fellowship programs with program directors’ preferences for applicants. For information about NRMP or to register online participate rel="noopener noreferrer" in NRMP, go to www.nrmp.org.

Note: All qualified applicants are considered for interviews. However, the volume of applicants precludes us from offering interviews to all qualified candidates.