title: Digestive oncologist in the gastroenterology training curriculum.
abstract: Until the late 1980s, gastroenterology (GE) was considered a subspecialty of Internal Medicine. Today, GE also incorporates Hepatology. However, Digestive Oncology training is poorly defined in the Hepatogastroenterology (HGE)-curriculum. Therefore, a Digestive Oncology curriculum should be developed and this document might be a starting point for such a curriculum. HGE-specialists are increasingly resisting the paradigm in which they play only a diagnostic and technical role in the management of digestive tumors. We suggest minimum end-points in the standard HGE-curriculum for oncology, and recommend a focus year in the Netherlands for Digestive Oncology in the HGE-curriculum. To produce well-trained digestive oncologists, an advanced Digestive Oncology training program with specific qualifications in Digestive Oncology (2 years) has been developed. The schedule in Belgium includes a period of at least 6 mo to be spent in a medical oncology department. The goal of these programs remains the production of well-trained digestive oncologists. HGE specialists are part of the multidisciplinary oncological teams, and some have been administering chemotherapy in their countries for years. In this article, we provide a road map for the organization of a proper training in Digestive Oncology. We hope that the World Gastroenterology Organisation and other (inter)national societies will support the necessary certifications for this specific training in the HGE-curriculum.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, VU University Medical Center, 1007 MB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. cjmulder@vumc.nl
authors.forename: Chris Jacob Johan
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Mulder
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peeters
authors.forename: Annemieke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cats
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dahele
authors.forename: Jochim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Terhaar sive Droste
mesh_terms: D002568:Certification; D003479:Curriculum; D004067:Digestive System Neoplasms; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D005762:Gastroenterology / Q000193:education*; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000193:education*; D009426:Netherlands; D012955:Societies, Medical; D013038:Specialization