Hey Reader, I want to introduce you to Nickie: THE Dr. Nickie Brooks, newly-board-certified oncologic clinical specialist! When Nickie found out she'd have to write a case report for her oncology specialization application, her first reaction was: "I don't think I want to do this." She's not a writer. She even said it herself: writing isn't something she does for fun, and the last time she wrote anything close to a case report was in college. She figured she had one shot to get it right, and...
24 days ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, Quick question: have you ever sat down to start your case report, opened up a blank doc, and just… stared at it? If so, I want you to hear this loud and clear: you're not broken, and you’re not behind. You’re just missing a process. That’s it. That’s the whole problem. I’ve coached a lot of oncology PTs through their specialization journey, and here’s what I’ve noticed over and over: The actual writing usually isn’t the hard part. What trips people up is not knowing what “done”...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, Let's talk about the moment every oncology PT preparing for their specialty exam secretly dreads: You're moving through the exam, feeling good, and then a question shows up that feels like it wandered in from a completely different specialty. Unfamiliar medication, layered case, presentation you can't quite place. Your heart rate spikes. And just like that, the knowledge you've spent months building feels like it's gone. Here's the good news: that feeling isn't a sign you don't...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, Quick question — when you picture your exam day, what comes to mind first? Is it the material... or is it the fear of blanking at hour five?If it's the second one, you are not alone, and I want to talk about it 👇 Here's the thing I've seen trip up so many PTs prepping for the oncology specialty exam: they treat exam day like it's just a longer version of studying. IT'S NOT. By the time you're sitting in that testing center, your knowledge base is basically locked in. Exam day is a...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, Quick question before you spend another 8-hour day memorizing contraindications you'll probably forget anyway: Are you studying hard, or are you studying smart? I ask because hours of grinding don't actually mean much if you're focused on the wrong things. And honestly? The difference between passing your oncology specialty exam with confidence vs. white-knuckling through burnout usually has nothing to do with who's the smartest OncoPT in the room. It's almost always about...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, Can I be honest with you about something? So many of the PTs I work with are convinced they're not studying enough. And almost every time, that's not actually the problem.The real problem is that they're treating exam prep like a sprint — cramming for a few months, running themselves into the ground, and then walking into exam day exhausted instead of confident. I get it. You want this. You've worked hard to get here. Of course you want to give it everything you've got.But here's...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read