TheOncoPT Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Just submitted your ABPTS application & case report? CONGRATULATIONS! If you're now wondering what the heck comes next, this episode is just for you . In this episode, I walk through the full timeline between submitting your application and getting your exam results, so you're never left wondering what comes next. We start with case report review:  What happens if yo...

Send us Fan Mail Before you hit submit on your case report, run through this checklist. Five minutes now can save you from a mistake that costs you the entire application cycle. In this episode, I walk through the exact 4-item checklist to run before you submit: Formatting & requirements — Pull up the actual ABPTS candidate guide and check your case report against it line by line. Word count,...

Send us Fan Mail If your oncology case report deadline is creeping up and you haven't started yet, take a breath — you're likely not as behind as it feels.  In this episode, I walk through exactly what to do next, including the one decision that has to happen in the next 24 hours, and how to build a minimum viable outline instead of falling into the perfectionism trap. We cover: Why choo...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of oncology physical therapists sit down to start their ABPTS case report and immediately wonder: am I even prepared for this?  In this episode, I talk with Dr. Mico Pagkalinawan, an inpatient oncology PT (newly board certified!) who was in your very shoes last year, listening to this podcast, deciding if he was ready to take on specialization. We cover: How Mico began in on...

Send us Fan Mail If you're three weeks out from the ABPTS case report deadline and you're staring at a blank page wondering if it's even possible to finish in time... The answer is yes, but only if you stop treating this like a project you chip away at and start treating it like what it actually is : a sprint with a finish line. In this episode, I walk through the exact three-week o...

Send us Fan Mail What does it actually take to go from "I think I want to specialize" to a full-blown board-certified oncology clinical specialist? Class is in session, because Dr. Lisa Morgan, Montana's FIRST board certified specialist in oncologic physical therapy , is on the podcast to talk allll about it. We talk about: What oncology PT practice looks like for Lisa — combo outpa...

Send us Fan Mail Choosing your case is the very first decision point in your entire case report writing process, and it's where a lot of candidates get stuck BEFORE they've written a single sentence .  In this episode, I break down how to choose a patient case that actually works for your ABPTS oncology case report — and why the instinct to pick your rarest, most complex case is usually...

Send us Fan Mail Fifteen years into practice, a mom of two, working full-time in acute care... and still decided this was the year to specialize.  That's Dr. Alex Curtin's story. In this special guest episode, I sit down with Alex, an acute care BMT + oncology PT who just became a board-certified clinical specialist in oncology physical therapy. We talk about: How her path started not in...

Send us Fan Mail Imagine spending weeks, or MONTHS on your ABPTS oncology case report...only to receive a rejection email.  This happens more often than you'd think, and often for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of patient care behind the case. In this episode, I break down the 3 biggest mistakes that cause brilliant case reports to be rejected, every single cycle. We cover:...

Send us Fan Mail This week, I'm joined by Dr. Nickie Brooks, a board-certified oncology specialist treating oncology and pelvic floor patients outside Philadelphia. This is a full, extended conversation, and it's the first of two parts. Nickie's path into oncology PT wasn't a straight line. She started in outpatient ortho, got burnt out within months, found her way into lymphed...

Send us Fan Mail My client Nickie joined the Case Report Writing Workshop because she knew she needed to write a case report for her oncology specialization application — and she wanted real guidance and feedback to get through it. She wrote it, submitted it, got accepted with zero required edits, and passed her exam. AND THEN a peer-reviewed journal, Oncology Rehab and Practice, accepted her case...

Send us Fan Mail If you've ever sat down to start your ABPTS case report and just stared at the screen... ...You're not behind, and you're not missing some innate writing talent. You're missing a process.  In this episode, I walk you through the exact 4-phase system I use with my oncology PT specialization coaching clients to take a case report from a blank page to submission-r...

Send us Fan Mail You're cruising through your oncology board exam — then one question stops you cold. Your heart races, your mind goes blank, and suddenly ten minutes vanish while you stare at answer choices that all look right. This video gives you the exact 3-step strategy top-scoring oncology specialists use to reset, outsmart impossible questions, and salvage points when your expertise hi...

Send us Fan Mail You've spent months mastering oncology content — but on exam day, just knowing the material isn't enough. The ABPTS Oncology Specialty Exam is a six-hour endurance event, and without a pacing strategy, smart break habits, and a system for beating distractors, even the most prepared PTs lose easy points. This episode gives you the exact test-day tactics to turn your knowl...

Send us Fan Mail You've been told to "study hard" for the oncology boards — but hard work without strategy is just burnout with extra steps. This video gives you a 5-step framework that replaces overwhelm with a focused, evidence-backed approach so you walk into exam day with real confidence and your sanity intact. You don't need to be the smartest PT in the room. You need a sy...

Send us Fan Mail Most PTs don't fail their specialization exam because the oncology content is too hard — most of the time, it's because they treat a 6-to-12-month endurance event like a weekend cram session.  This episode gives you the exact study framework to build a sustainable plan, prioritize high-yield content, and arrive on exam day sharp, rested, and ready. Specialization prep is...

Send us Fan Mail Oncology specialization is not the right path for everyone. So how do you actually decide if it's right for you? This episode is for OncoPTs who are weighing whether ABPTS oncology board certification is worth your time, energy, and commitment... and want an honest framework for making that call. In this episode, we cover: · Why going into specialization for the wrong reasons...

Send us Fan Mail Do you remember your early oncology evals? How long they took, how much you were scrambling, how you were lucky to get to treatment before the session was over? That was most of us. And it stayed that way... until specialization changed everything. In this episode I'm getting real about what actually shifted in my clinical practice when I went through the ABPTS oncology speci...

Send us Fan Mail Even after understanding the financial reality of specialization, many oncology PTs still feel stuck trying to decide whether specialization is worth it. In this episode, we go deeper into the internal conflict behind this decision...and why you may still feel torn between continuing to “figure it out as they go” versus choosing a more structured path. In this episode, we cover:  ...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve been asking yourself whether oncology specialization is actually worth it, you are not alone.  But most physical therapists are evaluating this decision using the wrong criteria. In this episode, we unpack the real question behind “is specialization worth it?” and why the answer has less to do with salary -- and more to do with how you practice. In this episode, we cover...

Send us Fan Mail If your case report already feels harder than expected, it’s probably not the writing... ...it's the case you chose. In this episode, we walk through what’s actually making the process more difficult - and how to think about your case report more strategically so you can move forward with clarity. In this episode, we cover:  - What actually makes a case report feel difficult...

Send us Fan Mail If you have a few case report options but don’t feel confident choosing, this is the stage where most people get stuck. In this episode, we walk through what’s actually making the process more difficult - and how to think about your case report more strategically so you can move forward with clarity. In this episode, we cover:  - Why having multiple case report ideas can create he...

Send us Fan Mail Just because a case is interesting doesn't mean it's strong...and that's where a lot of PTs go wrong. In this episode, you'll hear what ABPTS graders are actually evaluating your case report for (* hint: it's not how interesting your case is *) - and how to pick a case that will meet grader expectations from the start . In this episode, we cover:  Why inte...

Send us Fan Mail If your case report already feels harder than expected, it’s probably not the writing... ...it's the case you chose. In this episode, we walk through what’s actually making the process more difficult - and how to think about your case report more strategically so you can move forward with clarity. In this episode, we cover:  - What actually makes a case report feel difficult...

Send us Fan Mail Frameworks are helpful when you first start in OncoPT... but real-life oncology rehab isn't so black and white. In this episode, we unpack the nuances that don’t always fit neatly into structured case walkthroughs: the dynamic nature of working with oncology patients, having to recalibrate when things don't go as planned, and the invisible cognitive load of complex decis...