Fellowship Program
ACCREDITATION
This fellowship program is approved by the Joint Council for Advanced Training in Head and Neck Oncologic Surgery.
CURRENT CLINICAL SERVICES
The Oklahoma Medical Center currently provides state of the art, multidisciplinary care to approximately 250 new head and neck cancer patients and provides almost 1000 head and neck cancer related outpatient visits per year. These services are provided by the members of the faculty of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology in collaboration with members of the faculty of the following departments and sections of the College of Medicine:
- Radiation Oncology
- Radiology
- Pathology
- Dermatology
- Medical Oncology
- Plastic Surgery
- Neurosurgery
along with various departments within the College of Dentistry.
The head and neck cancer patients are treated at the University Hospital, Veterans Administration Medical Center and Presbyterian Hospital. Patients are referred by Otolaryngologists, Oral Surgeons, Dentists and occasionally by General and Plastic Surgeons in the community. Our referral base includes the entire state of Oklahoma and several communities in the bordering states, particularly, east Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and north Texas.
A Multidisciplinary Clinic. This is a simultaneous, one-stop evaluation by specialists in the three disciplines that are most likely to be involved in the initial treatment of head and neck cancer patients at our institution, i.e., Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Radiation Oncology and Medical Oncology. Every Tuesday afternoon faculty, residents and or fellows of the three specialties meet in the Otorhinolaryngology Clinic at University Hospital and evaluate all new head and neck cancer patients and all patients that are currently undergoing combined modality treatment. In addition, Plastic Surgeons, Oral Surgeons and Speech Pathologists are readily available to evaluate these patients as needed. A similar clinic meets at the VAMC on Wednesday afternoon. Needless is to say that the initial diagnostic evaluation and treatment planning, as well as on-going therapeutic decisions are facilitated greatly by this type of interaction. Patients with thyroid and parathyroid pathology and some patients will small tumors of the skin are evaluated and treated surgically without multidisciplinary evaluation.
Tumor Board - All new head and neck cancer patients are presented and their cases are discussed at the Head and Neck Tumor board which meets once a week. The Tumor Board is presided by the Program Coordinator and is attended by Medical Oncologists, Radiation Oncologists, a Dental Oncologist, a Prosthodontist, a Radiologist, a Pathologist, all the residents in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Radiation Oncology, and fellows in Medical Oncology.
Discharge Planning Conference - The Head and Neck Surgery Program Coordinator and the Chief Resident in the service meet weekly with members of the clinic and hospital nursing staff, social worker, dietitian, speech therapist, physical therapist, respiratory therapist, and a patient representative to discuss and coordinate the rehabilitation efforts and discharge plans for the patients that have been operated on.
SURGICAL EXPERIENCE - In some cases (approximately 50% of cases), the fellow will be the primary surgeon and will be assisted by the residents in the service. The program faculty will be readily available to him for consultation or scrubbed, depending upon the clinical situation.
The fellow will be primarily responsible for the comprehensive surgical care of those new patients that he evaluates with the residents at the Veterans Administration Hospital (approximately 50% of cases). In these patients, however, the Chief Resident in the service will be the primary surgeon and the fellow will act as first assistant and consultant.
ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES AND RESEARCH
The fellow will present patients and discuss treatment planning at the weekly head and neck tumor board, will present grand rounds at least three times during the fellowship year, and will participate in all didactic activities of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology.
Research: the program offers two alternatives for research training:
- A Conventional Research Program
- A Clinical Epidemiology Training Program
RESIDENCY PROGRAM
The Department of Otorhinolaryngology is committed to the education of 10 residents who rotate through six clinical services.
APPLICATION
Through the Head and Neck Fellowship matching program. Fellowship match information and application forms may be downloaded from the Fellows' Corner of the AHNS website www.headandneckcancer.org
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