Pediatric Cancer In Adolescents

Every year, 15,780 children between the ages birth and eighteen years receive a diagnosis of cancer. Approximately 1 in 285 children will receive a diagnosis before the age of twenty. Pediatric oncologists remain vital to the adolescent population because they provide different methods of treatment for cancers, manage advanced technology to find cancers, and help sick children feel at home with decorations of many characters in their offices. Without pediatric oncologists, children would remain scared and possibly unhappy with their regular doctors.

Methods of treatments for pediatric cancers subsist much different than those for adults and the elderly. Cancer in children requires its own type of cures and treatments (Alex). Since children

still develop and grow until about age twenty-five, if including the brain, they need treatments that will not interrupt their natural growth process. The main job description of a pediatric oncologist includes treating infants, adolescents, and children that present with medical conditions related to cancer or other blood disorders (Career). To treat many types of cancers in children, doctors undergo laboratory and clinical research training programs to train them in different specialties of cancer (POE). Trained to deliver humane and benevolent care, oncologists typically meet a patient for the first time when they display signs of cancer, or have positive test results and/or x-rays that imply the disease is present within their body. Training programs remain imperative for doctors to properly diagnose and treat these small adolescents. Today, we live in a fast-paced medical world, where a greater understanding of cancer, new drugs, and advanced treatments constantly advance and evolve. The field of oncology delivers an affluence of educational paths and career options for specialists. Appropriate types of treatments offered may include, medication, chemotherapy, radiation, surgical removal, or hospice care (Doctorly).
Funding, and managing those funds, to use advanced technology in hospitals continues to remain a problem in the U.S. Although many programs receive funds through national institutes, some do not receive any to help correctly train doctors, and to give financial support to families in need (St. Jude). The goal of most programs is to prepare future doctors to be knowledgeable, compassionate, and capable in the care of adolescents with cancer or diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs (Pediatrics). The POE, pediatric oncology education program, offers an opportunity for students preparing for careers in medicine, psychology, biomedical sciences, pharmacy, or public health to gain explorative research background experience. The POE program provides short-term training experience, also called an internship. The primary goal of the POE program is to encourage students to obtain a career in cancer research to help all cancer patients in the future (St. Jude).