Oncology specialization can feel like Fight Club – because nooooobody talks about it until you’re in it.
So in this episode we’re busting open the doors & diving into the process of specialization with Dr. Tori Crook.
Dr. Crook is a board certified clinical specialist in oncologic physical therapy & acute care oncology physical therapist. She shares her effective study techniques, the use of technology in exam preparation, and how her practice has evolved post-certification.
This episode emphasizes the balance between professional development and personal life, and Tori offers valuable advice for those considering their own oncology specialty certification.
Listen now!
Networking & Resources: Your Best Friends in the Application Process
The importance of your network and utilizing available resources as you prepare for the certification cannot be overstated.
From mentorships to professional connections, tapping into a support system makes the journey much less daunting.
The right resources can guide you through both the application process and exam prep, ensuring you’re never truly alone in your studies.
Study Smarter, Not Harder
Preparing for the Oncology Specialty Certification doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
Dr. Crook shares her top study techniques, which helped her break down the material into manageable chunks.
From organizing your study schedule to prioritizing high-yield information, Dr. Crook’s tips will simplify your prep and ensure your steady progress toward exam day.
Leveraging Technology for Learning
Technology can be a game-changer when it comes to studying. But that doesn’t mean you should spend all your time researching the latest & greatest app to download & then not use because it doesn’t make sense for your learning style.
Dr. Crook discusses the various tech tools and apps she used to enhance her learning and retain key information. Whether it’s digital flashcards, online study groups, or audio learning (hello, TheOncoPT Podcast listeners!), technology can help you maximize your study time and deepen your understanding of complex oncology topics.
Applying Knowledge in the Real World
What sets oncology physical therapy apart is the direct impact on patient care. Dr. Crook emphasizes how studying for the oncology specialty exam isn’t just about passing the test—it’s about improving your real-world application of oncology knowledge to elevate the care you provide to your patients.
Everything you learn will have a lasting effect on the lives of those you treat.
Finding Balance Between Life and Exam Prep
Life doesn’t stop when you’re preparing for the ABPTS exam, and Dr. Crook offers insight into balancing personal and professional responsibilities.
It’s essential to carve out time for studying, but also crucial to take care of your well-being. Burnout can hinder your progress, so finding balance is key to staying the course.
Growth in Clinical Practice Post-Exam
Passing the exam is an incredible milestone, but it’s just the beginning. Dr. Crook reflects on how her clinical practice grew and evolved after earning her oncology specialization. She found herself more confident in her decision-making and better equipped to provide specialized care.
The growth doesn’t stop when you get certified—it only accelerates.
Believe in Yourself
Perhaps one of the most powerful messages from today’s episode is the importance of believing in yourself throughout this process. Self-doubt can creep in, but staying focused on your goal and trusting your abilities will carry you through.
With the right mindset and preparation, you can conquer the exam and emerge stronger on the other side.
Oncology Specialist Bootcamp: Your Secret Weapon
Dr. Crook highly recommends the Oncology Specialist Bootcamp for anyone aiming to become certified. This bootcamp provides comprehensive support, from study materials to a community of fellow candidates, all designed to help you succeed.
(P.S. not sure if Oncology Specialist Bootcamp is right for you? Check out my free masterclass on How to Specialize in Oncology Without the Stress & Overwhelm – this will give you a sneak peak into how to study for your specialty exam, plus a behind the scenes look at Oncology Specialist Bootcamp!)
The Path to Lifelong Learning
In the fast-evolving field of oncology rehabilitation, continuous learning is essential. Dr. Crook reminds us that earning the certification is not the endpoint—it’s a stepping stone in a career of lifelong education and adaptation to provide the best care for oncology patients.
This episode with Dr. Crook is packed with practical advice, encouragement, and real-world application tips. Whether you’re in the thick of exam prep or just starting to consider oncology certification, her insights will help you navigate the process with confidence.
Listen to the full episode now to get all the details from Dr. Tori Crook herself, and don’t forget to check out the Oncology Specialist Bootcamp if you’re preparing for certification!
Want to watch the episode instead?
Watch this week’s episode of TheOncoPT Podcast on our YouTube channel!
Transcript
Elise – @TheOncoPT (00:01)
Hey, Onco PT and welcome to this episode of the Onco PT podcast. Now, last time we did an interview with this person, I actually had her inside my house. Since then, I have unfortunately changed my podcast setup. So we are in our separate homes this evening, but I’m so excited to welcome back Dr. Tori Crook to the Onco PT podcast. It has been so fun watching this local physical therapist and now very dear friend of mine,
blossom into the amazing Onco PT that she is today. We are going to talk all about it. Dr. Tori Crook, will you please reintroduce yourself to my audience?
Tori (00:39)
Hi, happy to be back. Always a good time on TheOncoPT Podcast. Still weird hearing my name is Dr. Tori Cropp to be honest. But yeah, so I’m a physical therapist. I recently got my specialization in oncology. Woo, it still feels so surreal. I work in acute care at a level one trauma hospital. It’s a massive hospital.
And I have annoyed management to the point where they let me stay on the oncology floor. And so it’s everything I dreamed of. We have very wide range of cases from like very intense, like acute care work on bed mobility to it’s almost more like an outpatient session, but they’re just stuck here for chemo for a month. So it’s a lot of variety, which keeps it pretty fun. Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (01:30)
really cool. Now if you had to give your elevator pitch, you’re like 30 second, how did you get into PT and then how did you find your way into cancer rehab specifically?
Tori (01:43)
Okay, 30 sec. Real quick, I I took a personality test in college. said kinesiology. I said, sure, why not? I took anatomy and I was like, that’s fun. I like studying this. I’ll run with it. Did shadowing. I was like, this is a fun job. You’ll get to play all day. This is awesome. And then in PT school,
Elise – @TheOncoPT (01:46)
Hahaha!
Tori (02:04)
I was between a lot of different things I wanted to like specialize in honestly just kind of prayed about it and when it came across oncology I was like No, I was like that’s interesting. That’s too hard though. That’s way too much and God was like do that one and I was like, That it was following a lot of like family stuff and friend things Just I kind of open my eyes. was like, my gosh cancers like everywhere like specifically in my life
And there’s something I can do about it potentially in my career, like for other people. So, and just kind of snowballed into this passion and just something I’m really excited about to kind of get to play a role in, even if it’s like big or small. It’s just such an honor getting to walk with our patients like in this very difficult journey and kind of hopefully just get to empower them and give them more confidence and just whatever we can do to help them. So yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (02:59)
Now, how long have you been practicing Tory?
Tori (03:02)
Three years, wait, yeah, three years? January 2021? Is it three and a half, three and a half? Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (03:08)
Yeah, right. Yeah, like three and a half years now. Very cool. So at what point did you decide you wanted to then specialize in oncology?
Tori (03:19)
I think like half a year before graduation in PT school actually. because I
Elise – @TheOncoPT (03:23)
Really?
Tori (03:26)
Because when I was like preying on like, what do I want to do? I was already thinking like, what do I want to specialize in? And our school is real big on talking about like board specialization and stuff like that. And a lot of our professors had one in like neuro or geriatrics or ortho. So it was kind of almost like the standard at that time, just because that’s what we were surrounded by. And so in 2019 was the first year for the oncology specialty. In 2020 was whenever I kind of like
Elise – @TheOncoPT (03:37)
Mm
Mm -hmm.
Yeah.
Tori (03:55)
learn more about the oncology being an option and I was like okay so that’s kind of when the seed was planted and it just got stronger and stronger especially as like I learned it was really hard and then people told me like maybe you can’t do it then I was like okay I’m gonna do it then like tell me I can’t and I’m doing it twice like I don’t just stubborn
Elise – @TheOncoPT (03:59)
Mm -hmm.
Hahaha!
That sounds like me. I think that’s why we bonded so much.
Tori (04:17)
Yeah, I didn’t start to get along. Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (04:23)
What did you know about oncology specialization specifically before you started the process?
Tori (04:33)
Not much. Yeah, honestly, not much at all. was very confused. So I was like, this sounds so cool. it was, the podcast actually helped a lot learning like, okay, what even is on Co -PT? Like I want to work in this field. It sounds so cool. But like, what does it even mean? So like podcasting is on like social media, just kind of learning like, okay, what are the groundworks? What are like examples of where this type of therapy is different than what you’d like normally do?
Elise – @TheOncoPT (05:03)
Yeah.
Tori (05:03)
So I think that was kind of the first step and then learning more about specialization specifically was definitely like meeting therapists that had their specialization or were currently working towards it and kind of hearing their different takes on how they approach their practice and like the process of going through. I think just a lot of social media kind of stuff but then also like networking was big.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (05:25)
Yeah. What did you know about the like the actual AB PTS oncology application and then kind of preparation process for the exam? Because I think a lot of listeners have this idea of like, I want to specialize. I want to be really entrenched in oncology and know all there is about oncology. But then when we kind of transition or like
you know, start really getting into the actual process, like the logistics of the ABPTS oncology process. I think a lot of people get kind of discouraged or confused and then don’t pursue it. So what did you know about that, the process before you started that?
Tori (06:13)
I knew to call you. Honestly, I was like, I’m not good at paperwork things and navigating websites. That’s not me. I get very confused and overwhelmed. I’m just like, let’s close it and we’ll worry about it later. So yeah, honestly, knowing that there is a resource through your whole platform with like the Onco PT Bootcamp and like the case study workshop, all of that, I was like, need to do that. I just try to do it on my own. I just get really confused.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (06:15)
Hahahaha!
Yeah
Tori (06:43)
So the whole website and going in and creating your account and the application and all that, it got confusing for sure. So was great having guidance through you and then talking to other people that had already taken it. But yeah, I would say the logistics, I’m just not a big logistics person and that was very confusing to get started for sure. And if you feel that way, that’s fine. You’ll get there. You’ll just call Elise. You’ll be fine.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (07:05)
Mm -hmm.
Hahaha!
real though, like that was one of the things I almost didn’t make it to the point of like preparing for the exam because that was the same for me. Like the application process felt really overwhelming. It looking back on it, it is okay. Like once you figure out what you’re doing, it wasn’t that bad, but just the process of like you said, kind of getting logged into the system, doing the application. Honestly, the case report was very, very challenging for me.
Tori (07:26)
Mm
Yeah.
Mm
Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (07:44)
And so once you get past that, it’s like, okay. You know, that’s where you kind of get into the, you know, the reviewing about the oncology things, the treatments, the side effects, what we do for this patient population. I was like, I got that. I can learn about that. But the paperwork side of things, I’m with you, Tori. It was hard.
Tori (08:01)
Yeah, I think even logging the hours was like, wait, what? Because I was going way too in depth and way too detailed and stressing myself out with counting all my hours. So I’d have my schedule for the day and I’d circle all the patients that were oncology related and then the time and be like, okay, I got three hours of oncology today and add it. And I was like, that was crazy. So really it’s more of like a percentage.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (08:06)
oooo
Mm
Yeah.
Tori (08:27)
And so by the time I was actually due to like submit my hours, I had been moved primarily on college floors. It like 90 % of my case load was oncology. So you gotta make sure you get your hours. But it’s not like on this day, I did exactly 20 minutes. Like it’s not that specific. Like don’t lie, obviously. But I definitely stressed myself out with that for a good while. Bam.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (08:28)
Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm. Nice.
Right.
I did the same thing. I had the advantage, and we’ve talked about this, I was at one institution the entire time, whereas because I know you, because we’re friends outside of the podcast, you actually have been at two different places during the time that you were amassing your hours. Can you actually, I know this isn’t a question I prepped you for, but can you talk about what that process looked like having multiple jobs?
Tori (08:58)
Mm -hmm.
Mm
Mm
Elise – @TheOncoPT (09:20)
where you were getting those oncology hours for the application process.
Tori (09:26)
As far as like my first job, by that time, like whenever I was calculating the hours and stuff, I’d already done that more on like an average. So based on like, okay, so this made patients a day and like blah, blah, blah. And they were all oncology at that point, so that made that easier. But then it was reaching out to the old manager to sign off to be like, hey, that’s accurate, approved and all that. And that was scary because I was like, is this still your email? Like, I don’t know. So that was kind of like nerve wracking when I was like, it was fine. He signed it, it was good.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (09:39)
Mm -hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Tori (09:55)
no problems. And then I overly stress myself out with my current job in Q care, tracking the hours. And then when I went to go talk to my supervisor, I’m like, I don’t know if this is completely accurate. She had just done her wound care one. She goes, girl, just round. Like, what are you doing? Like, just don’t tell me it’s like 5000 hours and you like whatever. And I was like, so it wasn’t as stressful as I thought. And I think we might have undershot it a little bit, but I was well over the how many is it two or 3000.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (10:08)
Nice.
Ha!
Last I checked it was 2000.
Tori (10:26)
- 2000, yeah, so it’s a little over that. Like a chunk, I guess, but yeah. So, yeah, talk to someone who’s done it and they’ll talk you off the ledge and it’ll be a little easier. Because I was freaking out for a minute, but yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (10:30)
Nice.
Nice.
Yeah. So at this point, you’ve now committed to the process. You’re going through the application, you’re writing your case report. I offer, and this is something that we’re talking a lot about today, I offer my signature course, which is called Oncology Specialist Bootcamp, which helps physical therapists prepare for the exam and to really step in to their role as a sought after specialist in cancer rehab in their area.
At what point did you decide and say, I am going to enroll in oncology specialist bootcamp?
Tori (11:18)
Probably after like the fifth day of staring at my computer screen and nothing had been written. And I was like, no. I’d like start here and I’d start there. like, I don’t know where I’m going. I know what I want to write about. have all these notes from like the case and like research, but I’m I don’t, I’m stuck.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (11:24)
Yeah, yeah.
Tori (11:37)
I don’t know where to go. And so then, because I was like, I can do no math. I can’t. So I sign up for the course. It was just so helpful because it breaks it down into all the sections you’ve got to do. And it makes it way less stressful and overwhelming. So instead of this giant paper, it’s like, just write this one sentence. That’s the only thing doing that part. OK, now make a table. It’s just so much easier.
to put it together that way instead of just staring at it and be like, I have to do this, and I have to do that, and I have do this that, and then I did nothing because it was scary. So yeah, do the course. fine. It’s so helpful.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (12:11)
Yeah. Yeah.
You
One of the things that I really struggled with when I was studying, and this is obviously before I created the course, which is partially what informed the course, is I went really ham, like way too in depth on kind of the cancer side of things. And what I mean by that is like the diagnosis, and I really didn’t spend a lot of time until
Tori (12:27)
Mm
Elise – @TheOncoPT (12:45)
honestly, the last two months before my exam on the physical therapy side of things. So I spent so much time, you know, focusing on like, these are all the different subtypes of breast cancer. And these are the statistics of how many people are in it like, there is nothing in the recommendations that says you should know this, but that’s just where my brain went because I was like, I need to know everything there is to know about cancer.
Tori (13:10)
Mm
Elise – @TheOncoPT (13:15)
And then also I’ll figure out the physical therapy things, which was totally backwards. That’s also why I made oncology specialist bootcamp, because I made a lot of mistakes along the way. What was something or some things that you found helpful about oncology specialist bootcamp in guiding your studying for the exam?
Tori (13:18)
You
I think to your point of what you just said, one of the first lecture videos says, ‘all quoted it, and y were like, you’re not an oncologist, you’re an oncology PT. Quit reading about the specific genome that does this percent and then da da. That’s not your call, that’s not your job. It’s interesting and I think, and it’s complicated, it’s like, whoa, fascinating, and you can run down a rabbit hole so easily, but it’s like, rain it in. You don’t have to know that, that’s great.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (13:47)
That does sound familiar, yeah?
Tori (14:05)
but don’t get overwhelmed with the tiny details. So know that was in one of the very first videos and I was noted. So when I was going through Stubblefield and I was like, don’t understand half these words. It’s like, I don’t have to. And that was just like, I brought the fresh air and I was like, okay, good. can kind of, again, simplify it. Because what you do need to know is still complicated and it’s still advanced and all this stuff and whatever, but there’s so much more.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (14:10)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
That’s a good point.
Yeah.
Tori (14:30)
So you don’t have to know. It’s interesting, it’s fun, but you don’t have stress yourself out about it. So I think that was super helpful to know from the get -go.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (14:35)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah. Now you and I were talking off air right before we started. And, you know, one of the things that you and I have had many conversations about is like, you know, oncology specialist bootcamp is, it really kind of ties together a lot of the different resources that are used. And one of the resources that is recommended by, you know, APTA oncology to study for the exam is the stubble field text. It’s called cancer rehab.
I’m looking at it actually on my floor right now, principles and practice, right? And it’s a good textbook, but I think it’s really written by a physiatrist for physiatrists. And I think that other professions can get information out of that. But one of the things that I saw is that I couldn’t just read that textbook cover to cover and expect to be prepared for the exam.
Tori (15:10)
went right down here. It’s right here.
Mm
Elise – @TheOncoPT (15:38)
And you had a method for taking notes and like calling, you know, really important parts out that I wish I had known about. And I would really love if you could talk about now, what was that? How did you use it? Like, tell me all the things.
Tori (15:58)
So I’m very, okay, wait, first off, I forgot to tell you this before, but I highly recommend everyone learn your learning style first. So in college, one of my first anatomy classes, the professor is like, do not come ask me a question if you haven’t taken this test already. So it’s called the VARC.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (16:03)
yeah.
Tori (16:16)
So it’s like a visual auditory reading in kinesthetic. So you take this quiz and it’s like more of a personality quiz, but it tells you how you learn the best. So are you more of a visual learner? Are you more auditory? Like is it kinesthetic? You gotta pick it up and throw it around or do you just need to talk it out? So usually you score really high in like two areas. So those are kind of the two ways you should probably study stuff to retain it better.
Mine were like literally tied even all the way across. I was like, and she’s like, yeah, you gotta do everything to retain anything. I was like, all right. yeah, but knowing that, so I know I have to like, videos help. It’s kind of the auditory visual side, like talking it out helps. Everything has to be color coordinated in my head. Like literally every muscle has a different color in my head from.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (16:45)
Holy cow.
Cool, cool.
Mm
Tori (17:06)
PT school, it’s just how it is. That’s how I remember it. Like your gastrocs are green and your pecs are red. I don’t know. It’s just how it is, but that’s how I remember all this stuff. So knowing that it’s like, okay, I need to color coordinate my chemo’s. need to color coordinate all these different things. But knowing how I learned the best and how I retained it the best was super helpful. And so especially if you’ve been out of school for a minute, just kind of learning your learning style.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (17:08)
It works. Yeah.
Mm -hmm.
Tori (17:32)
was huge because knowing that through college and then grad school, I knew, okay, got to go back to that basic how my brain works and go from there. So knowing that, especially the kinesthetic side, I love holding things and touching the topic. So usually I’d write everything out on flashcards. And so this topic’s over here and then I could physically move it and be like, that’s how this relates to that.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (17:40)
Yeah.
Mm
Tori (17:55)
I work 40 hours a week, I don’t have time for that. So was like, what am I gonna do? But I need it handwritten, I can’t just type or just read. So I’ve got this app, it’s called GoodNotes. I highly recommend it, it was like $5 and that’s it. But basically you can upload like whatever PDF files to it and then just write all over them. So you can do whatever color, you can…
Elise – @TheOncoPT (17:59)
Yeah.
Tori (18:18)
Like take a picture from Google like of a diagram or whatever you want and literally paste it on that PDF So it’s like right there. There’s so there’s a lot of really cool ways to make it really pretty but it’s awesome Really easy just to get whatever information you want like there So I have a whole folder in my good new good notes for the oncology boot camp
Elise – @TheOncoPT (18:25)
my god. Yes.
Mm
Tori (18:39)
And then like every lecture has that PowerPoint and so I would go back and like update things as I was learning So like our chemotherapy PowerPoint cool great went through that But then as I went through all the other ones if it hit on another chemo and that seemed really important or like a key thing to remember I’d go back to the initial PowerPoint and like add it in so it’s kind of like a continual growth of that Topic but like located in one place
Elise – @TheOncoPT (18:46)
Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm, mm -hmm.
Tori (19:06)
And then since it was on an app, I did most of it on my iPad so I could like write it out and all this stuff. But then I could also get on my phone. So if I was at work and I was like, I don’t remember what this or that was, I just open up my good notes, pull up that thing, and then it’s right there. So it’s always with you instead of having to be like, I took notes in like the textbook on page 406 and I don’t have it with me. It’s like, no. But now it’s like kind of always with you.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (19:31)
Mm -hmm.
Tori (19:34)
It’s a easier to edit and add on to. So that helped a lot. And then even with the Stubblefield book, I never really opened the actual textbook. The textbook version I bought had the PDF with it. So I would just upload each chapter that I was reading through into GoodNotes, take all my notes through there.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (19:45)
Mm
same.
Tori (19:56)
The color coordinate, it’s nice and pretty. I’m importing like extra pictures in there to like figure out what’s what. And then same thing, I can just kind of take it with me wherever I go, because it’s on my phone or it’s on my iPad. So that was super helpful because just kind of typing stuff out on the computer wasn’t going to work. So I can like actually write it out. There’s a way you can add audio clips on your good notes, too. I didn’t do that because I don’t hear myself talk that much. But.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (20:06)
Yeah.
God!
Tori (20:24)
Yeah, so the tech side on the good notes was game changer, just a way to keep everything in one spot, but expanded, but consolidated, and so crazy helpful. The other tech savvy thing is Circle, right? It’s what the app we’re on for the course. So download the app. I don’t know why. I was like, I can only do it on my computer. Then when I finally got the app, I was like, wait a second.
Can I watch these videos just on my phone? So when I’d walk my dog in the morning, I would just put it on and so I’m not like intensely studying, but it’s like active listening while I’m walking like to the video. So it’s just repeated exposure to like all the content and it’s not like overwhelming or burning myself out as much as just like, let’s just listen. And like here and there you’re like, girl, call this, call that, or at least whenever you go and sit and study it for real.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (20:53)
Yeah!
Mm
my God, I love that. Yes.
Tori (21:16)
It’s familiar. So that was big too. And then like just playing like oncology YouTube videos when I was cleaning my kitchen, the same thing. I’m not actively like learning, but I’m hearing in the background, I’m like, that’s interesting. And so then when I go back and like study, study, it’s like kind of already there. So that was helpful. There was another app called Speechify. So that one, same thing, you can upload PDFs and it’ll read it out to you.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (21:19)
Yeah.
Mm
Tori (21:46)
It also has like an AI component so it’ll summarize the whole article for you. So if you look at the study list for the exam, it’s just five jillion articles. Overwhelming, it’s insane. Like don’t go read every single article verbat, like that, you can’t, you wouldn’t learn anything.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (21:47)
wow.
Yep. Mm -hmm.
Tori (22:04)
from it and you’d learn some stuff, but not all the stuff you need to know and how to apply it and all that. But some of the big articles like the Maltzer article and stuff like that, I would just put it on speechify and then just have it play and just read it to me while I did things. And the same thing, it’s like continual exposure and I’m not having to actively sit down and just focus. I can do whatever I need to do, but I’m hearing it.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (22:08)
Right, right.
I
Tori (22:27)
And then you can also pick the voice. so Snoop Dogg is one of the voices. So Snoop Dogg read a lot of oncology articles to me and it was like, fantastic. Like I thought it helped a lot. It’s a good app. Yeah, all the apps. GoodNotes, Speechby, Circle, Doomall. Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (22:32)
Stop!
That’s first of all, I can’t believe I haven’t heard of these apps before. Like you introduced me to GoodNotes literally before this. And I’m learning about speechify right now in the interview. I will be linking to all of these in the show notes, but I want to pull out. so again, I feel like I studied in the dark ages compared to you, Tori, cause you were like in the year 3000, but I want to back up what Tori said about. So my textbook, my copy of cancer rehab,
Tori (22:51)
Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (23:14)
by Subblefield, same thing, I have the PDF. And I would use that to search for topics which I found so useful. Because again, like yes, there’s totally an index in the back of the book, but man, like I am such a whiz when it comes to Control -F, like highly recommend. But being able to layer that within, and that’s something that I really was impressed by your studying methods is,
you would take the slideshows that we covered in oncology specialist bootcamp, import them into Goodreads, and then layer on tidbits from stubble field right to like, and again, you’re hitting all of these, like you have such wisdom to recognize your own learning methods and like what works best for you.
I’ve again, I feel like I studied in the dark ages compared to where you’re at, Tori. It’s incredible.
Tori (24:13)
Yeah, well it’s also just knowing my brain like if I don’t do all those steps, I’m not gonna retain anything. I just won’t and so I’d have to do all the tiny little things and just like repeat it, repeat it, repeat it and then it sticks. So yeah, and honestly I don’t think I had like a very good like routine or method down for all of it up until like…
Elise – @TheOncoPT (24:19)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.
Right, right.
Tori (24:37)
two months before the exam and I was like, why didn’t I know this sooner? So start early, even if you’re just dabbling. It doesn’t have to be like dabbling and remembering everything, but at least just dabbling and like, how do I study? How is this gonna work? Is there an app for that? There probably is and you should download it, because I learned that way too late with the circle one for sure.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (24:39)
Mm -hmm.
same.
Yeah…
you
Tori (24:59)
So just start early, but like don’t get overwhelmed. kind of, even if just be like, I’m learning how I learn and I’ll take some of the pressure off to start. And then when you know how you learn, then it makes the actual studying the content intensely less stressful. Cause you know what you’re doing and it sticks better. yeah, wish I would have done that sooner.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (25:06)
Yeah.
Yeah.
So question on then going to that point, when did you start studying to take your exam? So you took your exam earlier this year, what, like February of 20, or March of 24?
Tori (25:30)
March. No, I took it like the day before the last day you could because that’s just my personality. was like, we’re doing last minute.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (25:35)
my God. Okay. So last minute, save it for your one the wisest and you have the most information in your brain. When did you start preparing for the exam?
Tori (25:44)
Yeah.
When the case study was due, I want to say that definitely started the process. So like writing through the case study and like pulling all those articles and looking through the list of like what’s recommended to read and seeing like, okay, does that apply to my case study? What can I pull in and like refer to? I think that was kind of the very beginning stages. Honestly, I was so stressed out with the case study because I again waited too late to like do everything to where it wasn’t crazy stressful.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (25:58)
Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm.
Yeah.
Same girl, same. Yep.
Tori (26:21)
I was a little like just frazzled after that. So I don’t think I started studying, studying until after I heard back like, okay, cool. Your case studies approved. You can sit for the exam. And then even then I think I had a week of like, what did I just do? Like what? And then I kind of started rolling into it. So I guess November, December, like intense, actually like studying like kids with work and everything else. Like you’re getting exposed to it. You’re learning things, but study, study.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (26:31)
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Good point. Yeah. I think that’s a really good perspective on, know, this doesn’t have to be, and it also shouldn’t be a year long process. Like don’t start in April to take the exam in March of the next year. I think that’s far too long. I don’t think it’s even useful at that point. Cause I love what you said Tori about if you’re on the job and you’re working with oncology patients, like you’re practicing, you’re putting
Tori (27:03)
Mm
Yeah.
Mm
Elise – @TheOncoPT (27:20)
into practice what you have been learning and what you’ll continue learning. And I think that’s also a really important point of, you you might go over something in a study session, for example, and it’s not until you’ve actually had an interaction with the patient and then you’re reflecting on it saying, that’s what that means, or that was helpful in this case here. So again, you don’t have to make this your full -time job of studying when you already have
Tori (27:36)
Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (27:49)
Because again, like Tori’s mentioned, Tori works full time. Tori also has a engaging and active social life where she hangs out with friends and you go to workout classes and do all these things. Like you were not a hermit for a whole year leading up to this exam, were you? Exactly. Exactly.
Tori (28:06)
No. Yeah. Yeah. And I think like that was again, knowing myself. And so I knew like, if I just exclude myself from like everything and only study and I’m gonna get burnt out so fast. I’m gonna be like more stressed out than if I just try and delegate my time better.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (28:14)
Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm.
Tori (28:27)
So there were times where I was like, this is a really fun thing with my friends. I’m going. I don’t want to miss that memory or I don’t want to miss that thing. But that means this other day when we’re going to brunch, it’s just kind of random. I got to dip out. So you have to kind of prioritize a bit different. But also live your life. I went on a trip to Montana.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (28:27)
Right.
Yeah!
Tori (28:50)
in January before the exam to go see a friend and we like went skiing and all this stuff great cool fun should I’ve studied more maybe I don’t know but at the same time it’s like when am going to go to Montana and go skiing it’s so cheap like I don’t know so you’re like just prioritize it different and I think like
Elise – @TheOncoPT (29:02)
You
Exactly.
Tori (29:10)
the one occasion where that hit like the most of like, know, like this is great, you guys study for it, but like you all still have to like live your life. There was one evening where I had like this big study plan and all these things. I was like, okay, I’ve got to get all this stuff done tonight. And then found out that was actually the night for a funeral for one of our patients who had recently passed. And so a lot of the nurses were going, they’re like, are you going? And I was like, yeah, okay, yeah, I’m going. Like, cause why are we doing this? Like, it’s not like.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (29:30)
Yeah.
Tori (29:39)
Don’t get me wrong, I like adding letters to the end of my name, it’s fun. But that’s not the point, it’s like she was the point. Getting to help her through her journey as best as could until we couldn’t, that was the point. So getting to go to the funeral service and just kind of show the family, hey, we really care about y ‘all, we really care about her.
That meant a lot more than getting to sit and study about it, if that makes sense. So it’s like kind of prioritizing things and just really remembering what’s going to keep you, you, by the end of it all. You don’t want to get done with the test and look around and be like, no, what do do now? It’s a balance of it all. So yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (30:05)
Yeah.
Mm -hmm.
Yeah. Well, and again, focusing on, you know, at the end of the day, this is not about putting extra letters behind your name. Yes, is that cool? Do I love that? Do I love a certificate as much as the next person? Yes. But like we don’t do this for the pin. We do this because it’s helping us become better clinicians to show up in our own communities to help patients. And Tori and I have, I think a very
Tori (30:27)
Mm -hmm. Yes. Yeah. Yup.
Mm -hmm.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (30:49)
may be unique, also probably not that unique situation where we live. So again, spoiler alert, Tori and I live in Fort Worth, Texas. And Fort Worth, Texas, I think is the 13th largest city in the United States. It’s actually pretty big. And at the same time, there is such a lack of cancer rehab available and accessible to patients that like Tori and I,
are the only oncology certified specialists that I know of in Fort Worth, Texas. And that is not okay. Like it’s cool. And if we’re like, we’re so cool. That is not okay because that means that patients unfortunately are not getting the care that they need unless you, listener show up for the patients like Tori is doing. Tori, what? Now that you’re on the other side of it, first of all,
Tori (31:23)
Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (31:48)
What were the results of your exam? Eventually you took the exam. Like what happened?
Tori (31:53)
I got an email and I opened it and it was like login and I was like are you kidding me? And I forgot my login and it forever to log in. I was like forgot password and so like five minutes later of like panicking I logged in and it was like pass and I was like liar no I didn’t and so then I in and I read like all the square and it shows you the whole chart thing and like that you passed and I was like I passed. So it was crazy yeah but I passed. I still don’t believe it but we’re running with it so.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (32:21)
We’re here, you definitely passed. Like, I definitely saw this certified specialist. I saw your name on a list. So it’s legit. Exactly.
Tori (32:23)
Crazy.
I saw my name on the email and I was like what and then they sent me like a Email like add this badge to your email sign off and I was like, okay
Elise – @TheOncoPT (32:39)
So again, spoiler alert, Tori passed the exam. Now that you’re on this side of it, Tori, and you’ve mentioned a little bit about this, but I’d love to know more. How has preparing for the specialty certification exam affected your practice and what you do every day with your patients as an Onco PT?
Tori (33:04)
A lot. So I think regardless of if I like passed or not, even leading up to the exam, there were certain patients where I was like, my gosh, had I not been studying, I would have completely missed this. Or not gone about it as safely as I should have. Like I had one patient in multiple myeloma. He had a really gnarly like metastasis like in his hip. And just the way he was presenting, was like, because we already knew he had spinal fractures.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (33:17)
Yeah.
Mm
Tori (33:33)
His case was very complicated. was unfunded, undocumented, had to get back to Mexico. We had to figure out all the charity stuff. It was a lot. He was the coolest dude though. My Spanish is not good, but he complimented it. It was like, were very nice. But was so nice. But yes, anyways, the way he was presenting after reviewing the Morales criteria and really reading through all that stuff, was like, you are such a high risk for pathological fracture.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (33:33)
Mm -hmm.
Wow.
It’s so sweet!
Tori (33:58)
So like we need to not work on just walking, cause that’s a cute care, just walk them and blah, blah, blah. It’s like, no, no, no, no, like let’s be real specific on what we’re doing here. And so he couldn’t tolerate standing super great for a long time. So was like, let’s not do that then. So we worked a lot primarily on.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (33:59)
Yeah.
Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm.
Tori (34:16)
Wheelchair transfer is kind of changing him how he did that too so he could tolerate getting into a car, worked on different positioning in the bed because he’d have to tolerate being in a car for a long time. He had like a TLSO and all that like for support we talked about like pressure points like all that and then just reiterating over and over again to the family I was like it is not important that you walk a far distance right now. I was like if that’s crazy painful I was like you need to sit down.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (34:23)
Yeah.
Right.
Mm -hmm. Yo.
Tori (34:41)
And then using the wheelchair for cardio at that point. So like we’re seated, walking. You look kind of silly, but I call it like a hospital bike because we don’t have bikes, but it’s like, we’re taking pressure off where that med is and you’re still moving. And then even them just having to push themselves with their arms, they get winded pretty quick. Like it’s a workout. so kind of just changing everything I would have done versus like, let’s just make them walk. And like, are you wrong doing that? No.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (34:54)
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Right?
Tori (35:11)
But also, yeah, and so just kind of seeing how like my mindset changed on like certain cases and like just these key things I might have missed or like overlooked had I not been studying.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (35:24)
Mm -hmm.
Tori (35:25)
It’s like even we have some APML cases. And so after reading in Stubblefield specifically about like how arsenic affects like the pulmonary system and all that, I was like, holy crap, we better condition these patients like crazy. So I have one patient right now and he’s 27 and he’s fine. Like acute care therapy wise, like he’s walking up and down the hallways all by himself, like no problem. But when we first started working, his heart rate was like 140 after walking like 50 feet.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (35:29)
Mm
Mm -hmm.
Yeah.
Tori (35:54)
And I was like, that’s not good. Like you’re on arson. So we’ve been like progressing him and stuff. And so now we’re to where he can walk all day and he’s fine. Like he’s staying like 120s, which is still high, but I’m like, okay, like we’re monitoring this well. you’re tolerating this activity way better than you were before. So now we’re working on stairs. Like he doesn’t have to climb multiple flights of stairs to get in his house. But.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (35:56)
Hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Tori (36:16)
He’s 27, he should be able to go up and down a flight of stairs without wondering his heart’s gonna explode. So that’s like the new thing we’re doing to kind of like push him and advance him and all that. Versus like had I never studied for any of this stuff, I would have completely overlooked the specific chemo he was on. I would have been like, like we’re cute gear. Like you’re great, you’re good, you’re safe to go home without thinking like, okay, how many more cycles of chemo do you have? Like how is this gonna affect you? Like you’re so young, what can we do now to try and like.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (36:21)
Definitely.
Tori (36:44)
preserve your health the best we can. certification or not, like just having that knowledge of being able help like people just a little more specifically has been like really cool. So it’s been fun.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (36:46)
Mm -hmm.
Absolutely. And you know, again, I think this needs to be called to the front of listeners minds is it’s not that you would have been doing like terrible rehab, but you’re doing great rehab, extremely intentional and a lot of, you know, forward thinking that I don’t know. I mean like, heck, first of all, I’m not an acute care, so I’m not thinking about these things. I work entirely in outpatient.
Tori (37:08)
Mm -hmm.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (37:26)
but you even mentioned it of, know, it wasn’t, wouldn’t necessarily be bad at the end of the world, but you’re taking those extra steps because you have this extensive knowledge and ability to kind of step back and look at the situation with some different lenses on. You’re able to contribute much more effectively to not just the here and now of what that patient needs, but also looking bigger picture long -term. You know, what happens when they,
leave the hospital or even as they’re going to stay in the hospital because you know that they are getting X number of additional treatments as part of their treatment regimen, whatever. That is something absolutely, and I think as your friend and as your colleague, I think you would have gotten there eventually, but how many years would it have taken to get to that point?
Tori (38:16)
Mm
Elise – @TheOncoPT (38:20)
I don’t know the answer to that, but I do think you have really shrunk that time from starting to where you are now able to really have that insight and perspective to elevate the level of care you’re providing.
Tori (38:21)
Yeah, long time.
Yeah, absolutely. I yeah. Like just kind of thinking, I was talking to one of my friends about it. was like, thinking of the patients I had as a new grad, I was like, I feel bad for them. Cause I was like, did I know what I was doing? I don’t know. And then even my patients from last year, was like, shoot, what did I miss? But you know, you do the best you can, you show up the best you can. And I think just studying, just studying in general for the exam is going to help you show up way better than you are now. Like no matter where you’re at, it’s just going to help you.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (38:48)
Same. Same.
Absolutely.
Tori (39:06)
It’s not going to hurt you. Maybe your ego a little bit if you don’t pass, but that’s not the point. It’s to help people. And like, I know residencies, they kind of, have a better statistic. It’s like, if you do a residency, it’s supposed to like advance your clinical knowledge by like two or three years.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (39:21)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Right.
Tori (39:22)
I don’t know. That’s what they usually say when you do that. And so after I passed the exam, my mom called. She’s like, so is this like the equivalent of you doing a residency on your own? And I was like, woman, what? I was like, I didn’t think of that. Because you can either do residency to qualify to sit for the exam, or you calculate all 20, like every minute you see a patient, and then you can qualify to sit for the exam with your hours, like I did.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (39:38)
Right.
Hahaha!
Tori (39:48)
And so the end goal though is like, you’re board certified. And I was like, that’s crazy. And so if residency is supposed to advance you that many years in your career, and the end goal is to get you your certification, like just getting your certification, obviously like you’re advancing yourself by doing that work and putting the time in. So yeah, when my mom said that I was like, like what? It’s crazy. Smart lady, so.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (40:13)
Well, I mean, you’ve got it from somewhere. Like, come on, girl, give yourself, give yourself some credit here. Like, whoa.
Tori (40:16)
Yeah, I guess so.
Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (40:23)
What would you tell somebody who’s considering sitting for their specialty certification and is thinking about enrolling in oncology specialist bootcamp?
Tori (40:36)
You should have done it yesterday. Yeah, like don’t wait, just do it. It’s so helpful because I mean, when I was trying to like figure out how I’m going to study and I was downloading all five million articles, I was like, I can’t read this. I can’t. I was like, it’s not going to stick. It doesn’t make sense. And there’s not another study course for this exam out there. And I mean, multiple people have taken this course and like
past. I don’t think there’s a bad review on it and if there is they’re probably crazy. But I mean because it was so helpful. I mean you got the PowerPoint, you got the videos, you have you to reach out to. There’s like the online community you can like go in and like ask questions. There’s the office hours, there’s specialist talks like in the different like niches so like pediatrics or like acute care like things like you probably won’t see any day in your practice. You get a specialist that comes in and talks about it specifically.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (41:17)
Mm
Tori (41:32)
So I mean, there’s just like a wealth of knowledge all in one spot and it takes this crazy overwhelming task and like breaks it down into chunks where like, okay, I can do this. It’s still hard. Don’t get me wrong. You still have to the work in, but it’s like way like more tangible and like doable than just the list of articles and just hoping for the best or reading a whole textbook. Like I don’t know what to do with that. So yeah, you should have signed up yesterday, but you can sign up today.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (41:45)
Absolutely.
It’s not too late, right? Yesterday was better, today is still good. What advice would you give to the listener who is about to start preparing for their own oncology specialty certification exam?
Tori (42:02)
Yeah, never.
Absolutely.
gosh, it’s gonna be great, it’s gonna be fine. Believe in yourself. I think it’s the big one. I think there’s definitely a lot of imposter syndrome.
who am I kidding thinking I’m gonna sign up for this and pass it? I’m crazy. But also as you’re learning stuff, talk it out with people. So talking to my coworkers and being like, hey, I read this and da da da. They’re like, we have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. I was like, And so that actually kind of helped to just kind of be like, okay, this is different, this is specialized, what I’m learning isn’t common knowledge.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (42:47)
Mm -hmm.
Tori (42:51)
I’m doing okay. And then also talking to other oncology PTs and be like, okay, I learned this thing, but like, how are you applying it in your practice? Like, how’s it really gonna look whenever we take this test? And it’s more of like a case -based scenario. So think chatting a lot with people is very helpful just to kind of give yourself a reality check, but then also give yourself a pat on the back, like good balance of those two things.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (42:57)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, if you enjoyed listening to Tori talk about all the things specialization today, you are definitely going to love Tori’s presentation at our upcoming Cancer Rehab Community Conference. Tori, can you tell us a little bit about your session?
Tori (43:24)
you
I’m gonna talk more. It’s crazy. I love talking about this stuff. So my session I’m blanking on the official title. I think it’s like a paradigm shift in oncology and acute care oncology. Like treating beyond just return to baseline.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (43:44)
Paradigm Shift, yep, that’s what it starts with. I know that for sure. Yep.
beyond return to baseline function, think, like picturing it in my head right now.
Tori (43:54)
You’re awesome. It’s a paradigm shift, but basically just kind of changing how we approach acute care is kind of what I found to be the most helpful and needed, honestly, with working primarily on oncology floor.
Because like my example with my patient that we’re just doing flights of stairs to like give him some more increased cardio and like something challenging because he’s young and he’s gonna need this That’s crazy. If you ask like a lot of like a QK therapist It’s like no no no discharge discharge discharge like he’s safe to go home. We did our job We’re done and it’s like that’s not really the case anymore though because like yeah cool He can go home, but like what are we doing to make sure he doesn’t come back?
Elise – @TheOncoPT (44:09)
Yeah.
Tori (44:36)
Because just American health care is wild right now. so, a little bit of a spoiler alert, but one of the quotes I kind of took and ran with this idea on is that the ER is the new primary care. You got back pain, you’re going to the ER. Because it takes six months to see your PCP. So if that’s the case in the ER and it’s not typically like your actual emergencies it was designed for, then what’s getting admitted?
Elise – @TheOncoPT (44:37)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah.
Yes.
Yep.
Tori (45:02)
Probably not your typical thing that we’re actually designed and built for admitting and seeing in acute care. And then especially in oncology, it’s like everything’s changing day by day as far as like how we’re going about treatments. So we’re getting these patients in, so we get a lot of like leukemia admins. They’re there for a month minimum. But again, dude, they walk in and they’re totally fine. Like we eval discharge. Three weeks later, they’re almost bed bound and they gotta go home in a week.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (45:18)
Mm -hmm. Absolutely.
Tori (45:28)
It’s like, what could we have done to maybe like help prevent that or like at least lessen it or at least guide them through it and get them to where they’re still mobile and safe to go home. So yeah, it’s just kind of changing our mindset on that because honestly just healthcare is not the same. We’re in an old system with new problems. Yeah, so that’s my talk. It’s crazy.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (45:50)
my God. I really love, and I know I didn’t necessarily cue you up for this, but some of what you’ve talked about being how your practice has changed after specializing and seeing that come through in your upcoming presentation at the Cancer Rehab Community Conference is really exciting. Not just like as your friend, because again, like we’re friends outside of this interview.
Tori (46:14)
Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (46:16)
But also as like, you’re my colleague in Fort Worth and you and I are kind of on other, like we’re on two different sides of the coin where you’re inpatient and I’m outpatient. And like, we’re seeing this crossover, which is really, really cool. And we’re also, because we’re on both sides of oncology rehab in Fort Worth, we also see very, very clearly what are the gaps, where are these patients falling through the cracks? And man, girl.
I am so excited. I’m like so proud of you. I’m just like, proud auntie, seeing all your progress over these years. How can people find you, follow you, and learn more from you in addition to the Cancer Rehab Community Conference?
Tori (46:49)
Thanks! Thank you!
Yeah, yeah, I’ll be on there. That’s still great. I’m still in shock about that. honestly like Instagram, it’s not like very like Educational or whatever, but I’m on there off and on so, know, I just shoot me a message and I’ll reply So I don’t check my emails well enough to be honest But you probably transferred email from there. But yeah open to chatting about whatever actually had
Elise – @TheOncoPT (47:09)
Hahaha!
I get it.
Tori (47:30)
A classmate reached out to me and texted me she goes, I’ve got this patient. It’s actually a pretty wild case. And I was even like, whoa, what are you going to do? But it was so cool just getting to like kind of give her some feedback. She’s in the primary sports ortho clinic. And then another classmate recently, she’s like, hey, I gave your Instagram like a patient because her husband just got diagnosed with leukemia and she’s got a question. was like, cool. So maybe there’s not much on my air flow profile except like just weird funny jokes. But you can always message me and I’ll be more than happy to like.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (47:52)
Let’s go.
Tori (48:00)
chat and if I don’t know the answer we’ll call Elise and it’ll be great. Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (48:03)
We’ll find the answer for you, friend. Don’t worry. Well, Tori, thank you so, so much for coming on the Anka PT podcast again. It is always a hoot to have you on.
Tori (48:15)
Ooh, I love it.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (48:17)
Ugh, we’ll have to do this again. Like we just have to plan a topic at this point. So again, if you loved hearing Dr. Tori Crook speak today, you are going to love her upcoming session at the Cancer Rehab Community Conference 2024. You can save your seat today at the OncopT .com slash conference. And if you’re a little more intrigued about pursuing your own oncology specialty certification, I have a free masterclass that you can sit for.
Tori (48:19)
Thank you.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (48:45)
and it’s going to take you behind the scenes on not only what you need to know about the specialization process, but it also gives you some insight into my signature program that we’ve been talking about this entire episode oncology specialist bootcamp. can find that free masterclass at the onco PT .com slash masterclass. know very original and I cannot wait to see you at the conference and in that masterclass until next time. This is Elise with the onco PT and remember.
You are exactly the physical therapist that your patients with cancer need. So let’s get to work.