Relationship building
A first-year attending's clinical decisions get better with time. Their relationships with referring providers, peers, and patients don't — they compound. These playbooks cover the communication craft that shapes a sustainable practice: how to introduce yourself, how to keep a referrer warm, how to run a family meeting, how to say the hard things.
Patient communication in oncology — the frameworks that actually help
Breaking bad news, running family meetings, goals-of-care conversations, and knowing when to defer to palliative. Structured approaches for the conversations that shape your practice.
Peer relationships and hospital politics for new attendings
Tumor board etiquette, cross-covering colleagues, calling for a favor, and how to hold a position in a department disagreement without burning capital.
Building referring-provider relationships in your first attending year
How to introduce yourself to community internists, PCPs, and surgeons — and how to keep the referrals warm without becoming a burden on your own inbox.
Written by practicing hem/onc attendings.
Every article on this pillar carries a named author. Guidance here is communication and workflow — not clinical decision-making. Adapt to your institution's culture and your patients' expectations.