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Back in 1972, due to an increasing complexity of systemic treatment of cancer patients, there was a felt need in the USA for implementing a separate specialization in medical oncology. The beginnings of medical oncology in Europe reach back to 1980, while the specialization in medical oncology itself was not implemented until 1997, when it was introduced as one of the measures aimed at improving the survival ratio in Europe, which was at that time significantly lower than in the USA. Medical oncology is recognized as a self-dependant specialization in Slovenia from the year 2000 onwards. It is conducted in the frame of a specialization in internal medicine, sharing the first two years of the core curriculum. In the following four years, the resident acquires basic as well as in-depth knowledge in the field of medical oncology and research work. The medical oncology network estimates that, by the year 2020, there will be approximately 27 medical oncologists working at the comprehensive cancer center, Institute of Oncology Ljubljana and additional 23 in at least five secondary (regional) oncology centers. Due to an ever-increasing number of cancer patients as well as indications for systemic therapy all over the world, we are faced with a huge problem of how to secure an adequate number of medical oncologists. Slovenia needs to keep improving its network of medical oncologists by increasing the number of medical oncologists in training and by ensuring that the network functions at its best. An optimal way to reach these goals is to motivate medical doctors who have just graduated, to select medical oncology as their specialization of choice and, at the same time, to motivate the leaderships of healthcare institutions to follow the goals and requirements set by the national cancer plan, for performing medical oncology in various oncology centers. |
