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Commitment to clinical education often requires significant forethought and attention to provide a comprehensive learning experience for trainees. In these settings, teaching is typically time-limited, prompted by a clinical scenario, and requires preparation. However, it is not uncommon for teachers to have insufficient time to prepare or to encounter a clinical scenario in which they have not yet developed a teaching script.In this article, the authors share 5 categories of teaching techniques that instructors can pull from regardless of the prompt or busyness of the clinical setting and that are ideal for using when the teaching script is “blank.” They call this approach of having scenario-independent teaching techniques ready to be applied with minimal preparation, “pseudo-improvised teaching.”Drawing from the literature, their own experience, and borrowing from improvisational theater, the authors share a toolkit of pseudo-improvised teaching techniques spanning from pathophysiology to clinical skills to work–life integration. In addition to highlighting several techniques, they describe models of meta-structure for teaching in which the use of themes for the day (i.e., longitudinal themes) and routines can ease some of the cognitive load felt by both learners and educators.

The use of social media continues to increase in health care and academia. Health care practice, particularly the oncologic field, is constantly changing because of new knowledge, evidence-based research, clinical trials, and government policies. Therefore, oncology trainees and professionals continue to strive to stay up-to-date with practice guidelines, research, and skills. Although social media as an educational and professional development tool is no longer completely new to medicine and has been embraced, it is still under-researched in terms of various outcomes. Social media plays several key roles in professional development and academic advancement. We reviewed the literature to evaluate how social media can be used for professional development and academic promotion of oncology professionals.

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Although the seminal event in sickle cell disease is the polymerization of abnormal hemoglobin, the downstream pathophysiology of vasoocclusion results from heterotypic interactions between the altered, adhesive sickle cell red blood cells, neutrophils, endothelium, and platelets. Ischemia reperfusion injury, hemolysis, and oxidant damage all contribute to heightened inflammation and activation of the hemostatic system. These various pathways are the focus of emerging treatments with potential to ameliorate disease manifestations. This review summarizes the considerable progress in development of these agents despite challenges in selection of study end points and complex pathophysiology.

Purpose:Adolescents and young adults (AYAs, 15–39 years) with cancer experience disparities in care and outcomes compared with older/younger patients. AYAs receive care from medical and pediatric oncologists, however, little is known about the extent of training fellows receive. This needs assessment evaluating current AYA oncology (AYA-O) education in pediatric and medical oncology fellowship programs to identify knowledge gaps for curricular development.Methods:An anonymous, cross-sectional, web-based survey developed by pediatric and medical oncologists was sent to medical (n= 178) and pediatric (n= 119) hematology/oncology program directors (PDs) at 251 sites in the United States. PDs were asked to participate and distribute the survey to their fellows. Survey questions addressed current AYA curriculum, provider comfort, and priorities for future AYA educational content.Results:Participants from 69/251 programs responded (program response rate = 27%), including 51 PDs (32 pediatric, 19 medical oncology) and 58 fellows (33 pediatric, 25 medical oncology). Eighty-five percent of PDs (44/51) reported lacking formal AYA curricula. Of these, 80% (35/44) offer some topic-specific lectures, while 20% (9/44) provide little/no education for any topics. For nearly all topics, at least 45% of combined respondents reported little/no education. Respondents believe AYA topics are important for inclusion in future curricula. The most important topics for inclusion reported were oncofertility (82%), survivorship (78%), and communication (77%).Conclusions:There are large and actionable gaps in AYA-O education during fellowship training. Efforts are underway to develop AYA-O curriculum to provide both medical and pediatric oncology fellows with the knowledge and skills required to provide optimal AYA care.

Introduction:The workforce of Pediatric Hematology Oncology (PHO) has been evolving over the last decade. Recently, fellowship application volume has declined, with almost half of the programs at least partly unfilled during the previous MATCH. A perceived paucity of PHO jobs for graduating fellows may exacerbate this declining interest in the field. By surveying fellows, fellowship program directors, and PHO division chiefs, this study aims to investigate PHO fellows' preparation for, and experience with, the search for an initial faculty position.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

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Manwani: GBT: Consultancy, Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy; Pfizer: Consultancy.