Developing Canadian oncology education goals and objectives for medical students: a national modified Delphi study

Abstract

CMAJ OPEN, 4(3) E359I t is estimated that cancer will develop in 40% of Canadians over their lifetime, and cancer is now the leading cause of death in Canada. 1 Most physicians, regardless of their specialty, will be involved in the care of patients with cancer. Medical students who go on to pursue careers in family medicine or internal medicine and many of its subspecialties will be involved in screening, diagnosis and follow-up of patients with cancer.2 Despite these responsibilities, studies have shown that there is a deficiency in focused oncology teaching during medical school in Canada and the United Kingdom and many other European countries.3-7 Our recent national survey showed that most educators and learners believe oncology education in Canadian family medicine and internal medicine training programs at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels is inadequate. 4 When comparing the teaching of disease related to 10 different medical subspecialties, the educators and learners agreed that oncology was the most poorly taught to medical students. A total of 95% of members of undergraduate medical education curriculum committees and 91% of medical students thought that a standard set of oncology objectives for medical students would be useful. Background: Studies have shown that there is a deficiency in focused oncology teaching during medical school in Canada. This study aimed to develop oncology education goals and objectives for medical students through consensus of oncology educators from across Canada.

Oncology education for family medicine residents: a national needs assessment survey

“…However, the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) considers cancer to be one of its priority topics, for the purposes of assessment, and the CFPC has described an accompanying set of "Key Features" that relate to this topic which focus on cancer prevention, screening, follow-up and support, assessment of patient's ability to cope, inquiry about side effects or complications, monitoring of recurrence, and prognosis discussion [9]. Expanding upon CanMEDS-FM as an existing curriculum framework for Family Medicine in Canada, as well as the CFPC priority topic of cancer (along with its key features), Canadian national oncology education competencies, goals, and objectives for family medicine residents could certainly be created using a similar Delphi process that was used to develop the Canadian Oncology Goals and Objectives for Medical Students in 2014 through a national Delphi process [9][10][11][12][13]. A national curriculum that can be directly implemented into FM residency programs is beyond the scope of this study.…”

Oncology Education for Family Medicine Residents: A National Needs Assessment Survey

“…This study shows continued support for the development of oncology education competencies, which would help inform the FM training programs and the FM residents of the essential oncology topics and experiences to be learned during residency training. National oncology education competencies for family medicine residents could certainly be created using a similar Delphi process that was used to develop the Canadian Oncology Goals and Objectives for Medical Students in 2014 through a national Delphi process (7,8).…”

A Successful Model for an Introductory Oncology Teaching Conference and Its Impact on Preclinical and Clinical Medical Students

“…15,16 Canadian oncology objectives and goals for undergraduate medical education were also published in 2016. 17 These guidelines represented a comprehensive framework for curriculum design and evaluation. 15 Despite these advancements, implementation of these consensus-based curricula has been challenging.…”